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THE EARNEST MINISTER 



EXEMPLIFIED IN 



THE LIFE AND LABOURS 



or THE 



REV. FOSSEY TACMBERRY 



BY THE 



EEY. EOBEET HUSTON, 



Mm E Imterte. 



O 



SOLD BY 

JOHN MASON, dQ PATEKNOSTER ROW,LONDON; 

ROBERTSON, GRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN ; AND 

M'COMB, HIGH STREET, BELFAST. 

1853. 



£:zJ<3^^^ 



1 



BELFAST : 
PRINTED BY JAMES ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 



PREFACE. 



Soon after it pleased God, in His mysterious Provi- 
dence, to call away my much loved friend and brother 
Tackaberry, in the midst of his usefulness, the idea 
of publishing a memoir of him arose in my mind. 
Some years since, his mother having committed to 
me his voluminous letters, ad<lressed to her and other 
members of his family, — ^letters written from the dif- 
ferent circuits where he travelled, and which, with 
some to myself, supply a continuous narrative of his 
hfe and labours; ministerial brethren, formerly col- 
leagues of Mr. T,, having encouraged me to undertake 
the task ; and feeling inwardly moved to perpetuate 
and extend, if possible, the usefulness of one whose 
name and memory are dear to many — the idea at last 
assumed the form of a resolution, whenever time and 
circumstances would permit. 

Early last Autumn the thought occurred to me 
that should it ever be done, now was the time. 
It were easy to apologise for imperfections in the per- 
formance. All I can say is, that amidst the pressures 
of deep domestic anxiety, and of public cares and 
duties, I have done what I could to fulfil the purpose 
I had formed. 

While such expression of confidence as was implied 
in the act by which Mr. T.'s venerable mother con- 
fided to me his familiar correspondence is grateful to 
one's feelings, it is right to say that otherwise I could 



IV 

never have executed the task proposed to myself. It 
is my pleasing duty also to acknowledge that the 
compilation has been assisted by communications 
from his Aunt Morris, of Saint Louis ; the Eev. James 
S. Waugh, of Skibbereen ; and Mr. George Grant, of 
the Star Assurance Office, London. 

It may also be proper to state that, in transcribing 
Mr. T.'s language, no alteration has been made, verbal 
or otherwise, but what appeared necessary for publi- 
cation ; while his meaning has, in every instance, been 
preserved in its integrity. 

For two reasons, I have made Mr. Tackaberry, as 
far as possible, his own biographer. First : From the 
relationship subsisting between us by marriage, Mrs. 
Huston and he being sisters' children, I supposed 
that some might consider me unduly partial, had I 
spoken of him as strongly as I believed consistent 
with truth ; and, secondly : The high esteem in which ^ 
he was held on every circuit where he laboured, in- 
duced the persuasion that his own words will be read 
with the greatest interest and profit — thus constrain- 
ing those who loved and admired him to say, while 
they feel : " He being dead, yet speaketh." 

May it please the Father of mercies and God of all 
comfort to sanction the publication with His blessing ! 

E. H, 

Belfast, March 31, 1853. 



CONTENTS 



Chap. I. Inteoductory. 

Mission of Ouseiey and Grraliam to the aboriginal Irish — 
Time and manner of that appointment — Eev. Thomas Coke, 
LL.D. — AppointAient of Thomas Walsh — Its motive and ob- 
ject — Mission of 1799 opportune — Eebellion of 1798 — Objects 
of French sympathizers and of political and ecclesiastical 
Leaders — Presbyterians of Ulster — Legislative Union — Martial 
law — Protection secured by Government to the Missionaries — 
Anecdotes of Thomas Walsh— Instances of Ouseley's tact as 
an open-air preacher — His quenchless zeal — Euling passion — 
Miniature portrait — Characteristics of Charles Graham, William 
Hamilton, and Andrew Taylor — Common errors — Mr. Tacka- 
berry's birth — Seasons of his ardent Protestantism — Sabbath- 
school training — Rev. John Wesley's estimate of Sunday 
schools — Rev. Mr. Mosse — Place and manner of his conver- 
sion — Priest Murphy's Chapel — Mr. Tackaberry's union with 
the Methodist society — Year of his conversion — Great religious 
revival — Efforts for the salvation of his family and friends — 
Conversion of his Uncle and Aunt Morris, of his brother John, 
and of his Aunts Gill and Eades — Remarkable death -bed 
testimonies — Extent of revival — Mr. Tackaberry's consecration 
to the service of God and his Church, the fruit of the Irish 
Mission — Immediate object to be aimed at in Sunday schools — 
Death of the Rev. A. Taylor. Pages 1 to 43. 

Chap. II.--1818-1823. Skiebeeeen. 

Mr. Tackaberry's labours as a local preacher — Spiritual 
husbandman — Visit to Dublin — Interview with his Aunt Gill 
— Sanctified affliction — Heavenly mindedness — Preaches with 
success in Gravel-walk — Apostolic times — Days of W^hitefield 
and Wesley — Success of a preached Gospel then — Reasons — 
Enquiries — Mr. T.'s recollected habit the result of prayer — 



VI 

Eev. J. W. Fletcher on recollection— Notice of Summerfield — 
Missionary spirit — Mr. T. saved from desire for Dublin sight- 
seeing — Visits to Newcastle — Sketch of Mrs. Leslie — Visit to 
Captain Gordon in Kilmainham Gaol — Duty of Christians to 
prisoners and captives — Preaches again with encouragement 
in Gravel-walk — Missionary tour with Eev. A. Taylor — Glo- 
rious scenes in Arklow — Stratagem of the infernal enemy — 
Remarkable answer to prayer — Forbearing and forgiving 
charity of Rev. Charles Graham— Momentary faith — Holiness 
an essential qualification for office in the Church — Mr. T. 
elected representative to the Chapel Fund Committee — Journey 
to Dublin with Mr. Graham — Notices of the Rev. G. Marsden 
and Rev. R, Newton — Mr. T.'s acceptance on trial as a candi- 
date for the ministry — Recommendation of him by Rev. R. 
Banks — Supplies the place of Rev. W. Stewart — Sent to Skib- 
bereen to supply for Rev. S. Kyle — Grateful emotions — Dr. 
Coldstream — State of mind on arriving at Skibbereen — Re- 
flections and enquiries regarding the vitally -Teligious interests 
of British soldiers — Captain Webb — Wesleyan missions in 
Gibraltar and China — Mr. T.'s purpose relative to purity of 
heart — Delightful work to a heart full of love, to a man full 
of strength — Sleepless care of Providence — Buoyant cheerful- 
ness — ^" When sanctification is low, all is low in proportion" — 
Illustrations furnished by the Avritings of Rev. John Wesley, 
and the history of the Church of Corinth — Mr. T.'s usefulness 
on the Skibbereen circuit. Pages 44 to 76. 

Chap. III.— 1823-1826. Mountkath, Boyle, Mounteath. 

Saying of Rev. Richard Baxter— Necessity for deep and ex- 
emplary piety in ministers — Views of Rev. J. A. James — Mr. 
Tackaberry's entrance on the Mountrath circuit — Conversions 
— Many adversaries — Discord among brethren — Determination 
to live and preach holiness — Grateful sense of benefits — Let- 
ter to his sister — Large congregations — Happy love-feast — 
Formation of bands— Holy meditations — Profitable intercourse 
with an aged Minister— Motto of the Baptist Missionary So- 
ciety — Some saved every round — Memorable meeting in Mount- 
rath — Important direction — Persuasive letter to his brother 
to turn to God^Remarkable love-feast in Abbey leix—Obliga- 



Vll 

tions of Christians — Obtains the site of a new chapel from Lord 
De Vesci — Appointed to the Boyle and Killesandra circuit — 
Notice of Eev. J. S. Wilson — Description of the circuit — Great 
congregations — One of the happiest of men — Pastoral counsels 
— The height of his ambition— No small stir in several locali- 
ties — Method of dealing with penitents — His ministry attended 
by the Gentry — Complacency in the prospect of Eternity — Ke- 
appointment to Mountrath — Impressions concerning the Rev. 
Thomas Kerr and his Wife — Spirit in which he entered upon 
the circuit — Experience of John Bunyan — Overwhelming sea- 
sons at Family prayer — Reflections on the death of Summer- 
field — Crowded congregations — Wise purpose — Blessed love- 
feast in Mountmellick — Union between him and his Superin-- 
tendent— Communion with God — Often reviews his Inheritance 
— Lessons taught by the death of friends — Government of the 
tongue — Satan's devices — Ministerial popularity — Character- 
istics of Mr. T.'s preaching — Religious meditation — Counsels 
to an apprentice — Duty of masters— Reasons of Mr. T.'s de- 
sire to attend the Conference. Pages 77 to 111. 

Chap. IY.— 1826-1828. Dublin. 

Skilful adaptations of the Gospel required in cities and large 
towns — Mr. Tackaberry's appointment to the Dublin circuit — 
Solemn dedication of himself to God the morning after his ar- 
rival — Criticising Local preacher — Direct aim of his ministry 
appreciated — Reflections on the view from Nelson's pillar — Re- 
markable cases of recovery from illness — Baptist minister — 
Labour in prayer — Counsels to an afflicted Christian — In- 
stances of success — Morning studies — Testimony of a soldier 
— Duty of thanksgiving — Enumeration of mercies — Division 
among ministerial brethren a calamity — Humbling medita- 
tions — Solemn feeling under a sermon in Abbey street — Jour- 
ney to Belfast Conference — Scotch girl — Theological exami- 
nation — Academical Institution — Rev. Gustavus Armstrong — 
Description of Mr. T.'s ordination, with that of Rev. Messrs. 
Price and Gillman — Notices of the Rev. Messrs. Watson and 
Bunting — Purpose on his re-appointment to Dublin — Preachers 
separate in great good humour — Reflections — Cheerfulness of 
Rev. John Wesley in submitting to inconveniences — Increase in 



Vlll 

Mr. T.'s Tuesday class — Brightening prospects — Sermon inter- 
rupted by cries for mercy— Baxter's Reformed Pastor — Gracious 
revival — Joyously liappy in extra duty — Richmond chapel — 
Sabbath-school sermon — Characteristic remark on depression 
produced by tri\'ial things — Remarkable meeting of Prayer- 
leaders — Bands — Testimony of aged widow — Healthy state of 
the society. Pages 112 to 146. 

Chap. Y — 1828-1830. Drog-heda. 

Mr. T.'s appointment to Drogheda circuit — Testimony to 
the character of Mrs. William Stewart — Unreserved devotion 
— Strong desire to understand Irish — Filial tenderness — 
Happy hour on the top of Forkhill — Animosity between the 
Celtic and Saxon races a barrier to the spread of the Gospel — 
Massacre of 1641 — Siege of Drogheda — Duties of the various 
classes of Protestants — Mr. T.'s Marriage — Character of Rev. 
A. Hamilton — State of the ckcuit — Plans and purposes — 
Conversion of Mr. Tackaberry's Grandfather when nearly ninety 
years of age — Increased congregations — Irish Teacher and his 
Wife — Letter on self -improvement — Godless wedding — Sense 
of duty to the Irish Conference — Hopeful indications — Search- 
ing and persuasive preaching — Specimen from sermon of Pre- 
sident Davies of America — Revival at Cornakill — Spiritual and 
financial state of circuit at Conference — Mr. T.'s views of the 
Roman Catholic Relief Bill of 1829 — Counsels to his brother — 
Converted young men like a flame of fire — Penitents' prayer- 
meeting in Drogheda — Prominent feature of the revival — 
Large congregations — Interchange mth Mr. Holmes — Mother 
in Israel — Devotional reflections on the coach — Striking con- 
version of an aged woman — Day of thanksgiving — Anxiety 
for the salvation of his brother —Importunate letter — Happy 
result — Desire for Mr. T.'s continuance a third year — His 
own mind passive, and confident that God would choose his in- 
heritance for him. Pages 147 to 179. 

Chap. VI.-.1830-1835. Wicklow, Bandon. 

Strong reasons for Mr. T.'s appointment to Wicklow — Mental 
conflicts-^Cheering feature in the Pilgrim's Progress— Wrest- 



IX 

lings against doctrinal error — Gratifying incident in Dublin- 
Sketch of a Williamite gentleman — Characteristic letter of Mr. 
T. to his youngest brother — Appointment to Bandon — First 
impressions — Kepeated renewal of covenant engagements — 
Saved from fear of cholera — Plans and proceedings when enter- 
ing on a new circuit — Personal happiness — Aim in preaching — 
Meetings for young persons — Mutual duties of ministers and 
people — Whitefoot combination — Encouraging tokens — Cheer- 
fulness of faith — The Christian's watchwords — Spread of re- 
vival to be traced instrumentally to united action among the 
office-bearers — Death of his cousin — Connexion between closet 
prayer and success— Stability of the new converts — Scripture 
study — Remarkable conversion — Services of Christmas-day, 
1838, eminently happy and hopeful — Letter to a young friend 
on the happiness of being useful— Skeletons of sermons — Man- 
ner of the revival unusually gentle — Diversity of the Holy 
Spirit's operations — Marked features— Visit of Messrs. Fack- 
man and Field — Circuit statistics — Devotional seasons in 
secret — Remarkable instances of the power of Grace — Wise 
resolve commencing his third year — Incident in the life of the 
Rev. William Smith — Original arrangement of a sermon — 
Useful ministers the subjects of sore temptations — Mr. T.'s 
plan of proceeding on such occasions — Much in company, yet 
much alone— Hannah More — Splendid Trifling — Homely but 
forcible figure illustrative of Methodism in the County of 
Wexford — Fervent longing— Principles of conduct in relation 
to circuit appointments. Pages 180 to 211. 

Chap, VH.— 1835-1839. Deogheda, Belfast. 

Ministers special objects of the care of Providence — Mr. T. an 
early riser— Saying of the Rev. William Ferguson — Instance 
of conversion — Mr. T.'s mode of instructing his children — ■ 
Interesting meeting in Dublin — Mrs. Myles— Grave hindrance 
to the spread of the Gospel in Ireland — Brighter day dawning 
— Mr. T.'s character of Mrs. Doolittle — Evils of a complaining 
spirit in the Church — Results of a persecuting Clergyman's 
efforts to extirpate Methodism — Plan for growing in favour 
with God — Visit of Rev, John Tackaberry, of America, tQ 



Ireland — Eeflections — Mr. T.'s appointment to Belfast in 1837 

Description of men and things — Opening of Frederick 

street Chapel — Eev. Messrs. Newton and Lessey — Mr. T.'s 
employment of time — Eev. J. Wesley's opinion of the BeKast 
people — Letter of Mr. T. to a young preacher— Stimulus to 
increased piety and zeal — Usefulness, matter of contrivance 
as well as of resolution — Closet labour — Centenary movement 
— Happy deaths —Duties of a minister's wife — Weekly meet- 
ings for sermonizing — Opening of Wesley-Place Chapel — 
Notice of Eev. Charles Mayne — Pm-pose to get two new chapels 
erected — State of the cuxuit at the close of his second year — 
Vivid accoimt of a visit to the Giant's Causeway — Incidents in 
the early life of Dr. Adam Clarke — Out-door preaching — 
Largest love-feast— Triumphant end of a member — Eemarkable 
Prayer-meeting — Labours more abundant — Proportionate suc- 
cess — Safe, though sudden, death — Affecting circumstance at 
his departure from Belfast. Pages 212 to 241. 



Chap. VIII.— 1840-1843. Coek, Londondeeey. 

Historical notices of Methodism in Cork — Causes of its de- 
clension during the lifetime of Mr. Wesley — Measures em-ploy- 
ed by him as a remedy — Mr. T. appointed to that city with the 
Eev. James B. Grillman in 1840 — Favourable ausinces — Mr. 
Field's classes — Mr. T.'s estimate of Mr. Gillman — Sketch of 
James Field — Baxter's memoirs — Sermonizing — Morning 
studies — Visiting plan — Enumeration of mercies on his bu'th- 
day — Visit to Bandon — Eemark on Passage — Contrast between 
Belfast and Cork — Character of Mr. T.'s Step-father — Holy en- 
joyment a qualification for usefulness — Tenacious remembrance 
of acts of kindness shown him by Christian friends — Joyous 
visit to the Eev. Eobert Banks — Claims of parents, especially 
mothers, to filial returns — Encouraging state of the circuit in 
June 1841 — Seeks deeper piety under a sense of increased re- 
sponsibility when made Superintendent — Missionary organiza- 
tions — Affecting conversation with his yomigest son before he 
died — Mrs. Tackaberry's death scene— Pier character — Eesource 
under affliction and bereavement — Eemark on his Aunt Eades's 
praying faith— Prosperous state of the Irish connexion at the 



XI 

Conference of 1842 — Appointment to Derry — State of the 
circuit — Directions how to rise spiritually — Marries a daughter 
of the Eev. Daniel Pedlow — Agreeable visit to Belfast — Mis 
sionary tour— Distribution of time — Good done at Ballyfarnon 
and Drumshambo — Eenewed surrender of himself to God — 
Buoyant reference to Innishowen — Bemoval from Derry at the 
end of one year. Pages 242 to 268. 

Chap. IX.—i843-1847. Belfast, Sligo, 

Heasons of his removal from Derry — Souls saved almost 
immediately on his arrival at Belfast — Time devoted to house- 
hold visitation — Pulpit preparation — Encouraging cases of 
conversion — Leases of ground for chapel in Shankliill and 
Mission school in Ligoniel — The ''Civil war" abates — Glorious 
Meeting at Shankhill — Effort to put down horse-racing — 
Weekly meeting of the four Ministers — Danger of lightly regard- 
ing the e very-day claims of religion — Manner of family prayer 
among the Puritans — Mr. T.'s Method — Immorality among 
Protestants — Affectionate mention of Dr. Aickin — Visit to the 
tomb of his loved ones — Notice of Mrs. William Stewart — Mr. 
T. an example of filial affection — Widow Magennis— Evan- 
gelical Alliance — Increased congregations — Close preaching — 
Twenty-five converted in one meeting — Donegall square — Ee» 
flections after a visit to his friends — Appointed to Sligo — Pictur- 
esque description of the manners and habits of the people — 
District meeting — Arrangement for an examination of the 
young men in May — Famine — Appalling condition of multi- 
tudes — Old Methodists — Money for relief of Irish distress — Mr, 
T. seeks to do spiritual good in his visits to the sick and poor 
— Saying of Charles Graham — Mr. T„ meets some of his own 
ehildren after the common faith at Annadale — Last letter- 
State in which he found the boy from whom it is believed he 
caught the fever — Death — His piety observably increased, 
and his ministrations more impressive, as his end drew near — 
Intense sympathy with the suffering poor — Solemnity of spirit 
at the May District — Alliance meetings — Desire for prosperity 
of the Sligo society — Prayer — Funeral sermon — Funeral at- 
tended by Eomanists from the country — Lines of Dr. Watt's. 
Pages 269 to 297. 



Xll 



Chap. X. Conclusion. 

Mr. T.'s mental, spiritual and ministerial portrait — Blend- 
ing of main features — Greneral manner — Benevolent disposi- 
tion — Deep and unaffected piety — Cheerfulness — Infirmities — 
Diligent as a student — Object of studies — Expository preach- 
ing — Puritan Divines — Eichard Baxter — Mr. T.'s Pulpit style 
and aims— Cowper's delineation of a preacher such as Paul — 
Mode in which Mr. T. descanted on the Atonement — Pecu- 
liarities—Character similar to that of Barnabas. Pages 298 
to 306. 



THE LIFE AND LABOUES 



OF THE 



KEY. FOSSEY TACKABERM. 



CHAP. I. 

INTRODUCTOEY. 



Moved by the charity which beareth, believeth, hopeth, 
endureth all things, and never faileth, the Wesleyan 
Conference, held in Dublin, July 6, 1799, appointed 
Gideon Ouseley and Charles Graham as Mission- 
aries to the aboriginal Irish. This charity was more 
than human compassion— it was the love of Christ 
constraining them. The appointment was made at 
the urgent request of an Englishman, the Eev. Thomas 
Coke, LL.D., President of the Irish Conference that 
year. Having recently established Missions in Nova 
Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and the West 
Indies, not only " Asia," but Ireland also, was " written 
upon" the Doctor's '* heart," He therefore formed a 
plan for introducing the Gospel among the benighted 
Eornish peasantry, by Irish- speaking Missionaries, a 
plan deemed impracticable by many, considering the 
character of the people, and the then state of the 
country; but which, over-ruling a host of objections, and 
Surmounting formidable difficulties, he carried into 
execution with his usual decision and energy. This 
Prince of Missionaries, as he has been sometimes 
called, like the Founder of Methodism himself, fer- 

B 



2 

vently longed for the evangelization of Ireland. ** O^ 
labour," he ^vrites to one of the preachers in a letter 
now before me, '• to kindle the same glorious flame in 
Birr as the Lord blessed us with in Dublin !" He 
lived to witness and to rejoice in such aflame through- 
out the length and breadth of the land. 

Further evidence of the lively and affectionate in- 
terest taken by the Doctor in Ireland is furnished by 
the following extract from a communication addressed 
by him to the Rev. Thomas Eidgeway, a few years 
after the appointment of the Irish Mission : — " My 
long silence may, perhaps, lead you to imagine that 
my love for the brethren and the work in Ireland has 
abated. But I do assm-e you it is far from being so ; 
for, though I should be reluctant to trust any being 
with a full view of my heart, but Him who views it 
through the medium of the atoning blood, and whose 
candour is infinite ; yet I should have no scruple to 
consent, if it were possible, that you should see every 
winding of my heart in respect to Ireland, for you 
would see there nothing but love." Assigning his ab- 
sorbing labour in finishing his commentary as the 
reason of his silence, he proceeds : — " On this account 
our Missionary fund has got again into debt, though 
nothing has been neglected which could forward the 
work carried on by the Irish Missionaries. It rejoices 
my very heart that your union with the English Con- 
ference is now so closely rivetted. May it increase 
more and more in everything consistent with the 
essential interests of the work in Ireland. I confess 
that when I came to you from the Conference at 
Leeds, I had my doubts whether it was not the de- 
sign of Providence to separate the two connexions. 



But the amiable spirit — I was going almost to call it 
the Divine spirit — which manifested itself towards 
you in the Bristol Conference, removed every doubt, 
and I do most sincerely pray that our Heavenly Father 
may unite tlie Methodists of East and West Britain 
in tlie closest and most indissoluble bonds in this 
world and to all eternity." These pages will show how 
the zeal thus manifested for the welfare of Ireland led 
to the conversion and subsequent usefulness of Fossey 
Tackaberry. But the Doctor's philanthropy was un- 
confined. One of the five Missionaries who accom- 
panied him to India mentioned to me, that every 
morning on the passage he was wont to sing :— 

" To me remains no place er time — 
My countiy is in every clime ; 
I can be calm and free from care 
On any shore, since God is there ; 
For regions none remote I call, 
Secure of finding God in all." 

The Mission of Ouseley and Graham was oppor- 
tune. The country was convulsed the previous year 
hj a sanguinary rebellion. Eecent events encouraged 
■ — the times seemed to invite — such an outbreak. The 
American colonies, now the United States, had been 
declared independent by the British Government in 
1783, after a sharp but fruitless struggle to maintain 
possession of them. The French, who aided the 
Americans in that war, gave flattering accounts, on 
their return, of the new Picpublic. The people at 
once thought they saw a nation free and wise ; and 
these " sovereign people," excitable and inconstant, 
soon gave practical and dread development to their 
ideas of liberty and equality, by beheading their King. 
Louis XVI. was led to the scaffold on the 21st of 



Januaiy, 1793. Then followed the French Eepublic. 
The chief political leaders and instigators of the Irish 
rebellion had imbibed American and French prin- 
ciples, having personally visited those countries. Lord 
Edward Fitzgerald fought under the Marquis of Corn- 
wallis in the war of independence ; Wolf Tone's con- 
nexion with the French envoy obliged him to quit his 
native countrv, and in 1796 we find him an accredited 
agent in a correspondence between the French Direc- 
tory and the United Irishmen. Emmet was a deter- 
mined Eepublican, trained in the same school ; Henry 
and John Shears resided in Paris during the Eeign of 
Terror, and, on their return home, boldly promulgated 
their revolutionary principles. Keogh had seiTed 
also in the American war. 

Close students of human nature, and thoughtfully 
observant of passing occurrences, the Methodist Con- 
ference could distinguish between the motives and aims 
of the various parties concerned in the Insurrection of 
1798. The object of France was to humble Britain, 
to weaken her power, to lessen her resources. Corsica 
had been again taken by the English, and Napoleon, 
in his pride and resentment, reluctantly spared a few 
thousands of the armies of Italy and of the Ehine — 
meagre and wan from severe hardships — to undertake, 
under General Humbert, an expedition to Ireland. 
The separation of Ireland from England — the organi- 
sation of an Irish Eepublic after the American or 
French model — but ultimately the acquisition of terri- 
tory, and an increase of power, and glory — incited 
France to this aggression.-^ 

* " rtecollect America," said this Gerjeral in one of his mani- 
festoes, " free from the moment she mshed to he so. Union \ 
Liherty ! the Irish Eepublic !"-— Maxwell. 



Pure and disinterested patriotism was rare among 
the Irish Insurgents— not, indeed, in profession, but 
in practice. The political leaders concealed personal 
and selfish objects under the cloak of nationality, and, 
like others in later days, traded upon the simplicity 
and credulity of the populace to serve themselves. 
^* While they promised them liberty, they themselves 
were the servants of corruption,"-'' Some of them 
were men of broken fortunes ; and this enterprise was 
embarked in as a bold speculation to retrieve them. 
Place and emoluDient could not fail to reward them, 
did they but succeed in the attempt. Others w^ere 
men of insatiable ambition, determined to climb to 
power, though they should peril life and limb. Such 
is the pride and folly of human nature that many, in 
different ages and countries, have jeoparded their 
lives to secure a brief notoriety and posthumous fam.e. 
Tone was the son of a coach-maker, and bred to the 
law, but, from his own confessions, the instability of 
his character was unsuited to the profession. Hence, 
with a family unprovided for, having failed through 
sheer idleness or incapacity at the bar, he became 

^' Weary with disaster; tugg'd with fortune." 
He was one of those mercurial characters who cannot, 
or will not, dig ; who are ashamed to heg, and who 
spend a lifetime in wild speculations and insane pro- 
jects. Other instances, to illustrate the above remarks, 
might also be adduced. 

A careful reader of that portion of Irish history 

will soon perceive that nothing was farther from the 

intention of these men, generally, than to establish 

Popery. Kather was it their deep-seated purpose to 

*2 Pet., ii. 19. 



6 

overthrow all forms of what they regarded as despotism, 
Emmet was, by his own avowal, a determined Infidel. 
The clergyman who attended him, after sentence of 
death had been pronounced, vainly tried to eradicate 
his erroneous opinions ; all arguments were unavail- 
ing. While proceeding to the place of execution, 
Emmet listened for a short time patiently ; then he 
replied, " I appreciate your motives, and thank you 
for your kindness, but you merely disturb the last 
moments of a dying man unnecessarily. I am an 
Infidel from conviction, and no reasoning can shake 
my unbelief" 

The French invaders did not care to hide their con- 
tempt fertile superstitions of Kome. When, at Castle- 
bar, a drunken Priest asked the General's permission 
to celebrate mass in the Protestant Church, Humbert 
laughed, and replied, that " he might say mass where 
he pleased, provided that he did not require him to 
attend it." The men openly boasted that they had 
just driven the Pope out of Italy, and did not expect 
to find him so suddenly in Ireland ; and the officers 
were astonished and disgusted to hear the recruits de- 
clare, when offering their service, that they were come 
to take arms for France and the blessed Virgin. The 
ruling idea of these adventurers, and of their leading 
political allies in the country, was the overthrow of the 
British Monarchy, and the establishment of a Demo- 
cratic form of Government. 

The object of the ecclesiastical leaders was not to 
substitute Monarchy by Oligarchy or Democracy — 
except so far as either mode might subserve their ulti- 
mate purposes — but to extirpate what they called 
heresy, and to make the Pope supreme Kuler. This 
design soon being made patent in the proceedings of 



the "Wexford Priests, nominal Protestants, with Ee- 
publican predilections, like Bagenal Harvey, became 
the subjects, first of alarm and trepidation, and then 
of mortification and despair. The horrible atrocity at 
Scullabogue Barn, where a large number of Protes- 
tants, men, women, and children, were burned to 
death, by the express orders of a Priest, having pro- 
voked expressions of displeasure from that lay General, 
the presumption was punished by his deposition from 
the command. Father Corrin did not interpose to 
save the lives of the Protestants at Wexford Bridge 
until many of them had been massacred. This seem- 
ing act of mercy was only performed when certain in- 
formation reached the town that Vinegar Hill was 
encompassed by the King's troops. His interference 
just then would be a natural expedient to save his own 
head. 

The Komish peasantry can scarcely be said to have 
had different aims from their ghostly advisers. It may 
be that some of them hoped for temporal advantage 
when the Kepublican doctrine of equality in rank and 
property should have come into operation. Their 
chief business, according to their instructions, was to 
exterminate Protestantism, and thereby to merit 
Heaven. The great Irish evangelist, Ouseley, was 
even more disposed to pity than to blame the people. 
'•' God forgive the priests," he used to pray, well- 
knowing that the guilt of Irish ignorance and crime 
lay chiefly at their door. The populace — undiscern- 
ing, excitable, trained from childhood to commit their 
judgment, conscience, and will to the keeping of 
others, and therefore plastic in the hands of their 
guides — have too often been made the tools and dupes 



8 

of designing demagogues. And yet a Komish prelate 
of '98 insinuates that the people w^je the instigators 
of the Eebellion, and that the priests, to retain their 
popularity and secure a livelihood, were forced to 
comply with the popular will. Charity would, if it 
could, believe that, in uttering this sentiment, the 
bishop was not speaking lies in hypocrisy. 

As to the part acted in those tragic scenes by the 
Presbyterians of Ulster, it was easy to foresee that 
tlieir union with the heretic-hating Southerns could 
neither be cordial nor of long continuance. The con- 
nexion existing between the North of Ireland and the 
States of America was affectionate and intimate. The 
colonies and the Northern Protestants were united by 
ties of blood. From almost every homestead persons 
had emigrated — for as yet the tide of Popish expatria- 
tion had scarcely begun to flow — and, although under 
different skies, the breasts of parents, brothers, and chil- 
dren were panting for like freedom. Those, therefore, 
who, under other circumstances, might have regarded 
the distant struggle with apathy, ardently sympathised 
with the revolted colonies, and openly exulted when 
they gained their independence Whether this disaf- 
fection to England was originated or fostered by the 
remembrance of persecutions endured by their ances- 
tors under the Second Charles, or whether it is to be 
traced exclusively to the cause above assigned, is a 
question which does not comport with the design of 
this volume to discuss. The fact itself is matter of 
painful history. Still, nothing could be more distant 
than their principles and objects from those of the 
Southern conspirators. Eehgious bigotry — a fond 
hope of making Papal rule predominant and universal 



9 



— was, in the one case, the actuating spring ; in the 
other, a desire for organic change in the Home Go- 
vernment, and its assimilation to the American model, 
is apparent. It were w^ell if those Ulster Presbyterians 
who joined that unholy alliance had pondered the 
fact, that the spirit and designs of the Church of 
Eome were the same in 1798 as in the days of George 
Wishart and Cardinal Beaton ; and that the British 
Monarchy had changed its principles since the time 
that the insane attempt was made to force Episcopacy 
upon Scotland, by sword and gibbet. In proportion 
as the designs of Popery and Infidelity were developed, 
Northern zeal cooled. French Atheists, Eomish en- 
thusiasts, Irish patriots, and Protestant Eepublicans, 
like the materials of the great Image (Dan. ii.), could 
not cohere. 

A year after the Methodist Irish Mission had been 
appointed, the Act was passed, constituting Great 
Britain and Ireland " the United Kingdom." This 
Act gave a death blow to the hopes of those who had 
fondly dreamed of separation and independence for a 
country whose resources and capabilities for self- 
government existed more in imagination than reality. 
Numerous facts proved that, had the daring enter- 
prise recently attempted been successful, the yoke 
ready to be imposed was the Ecclesiastical — that of 
Eome — the most grinding and degTading form of 
human tyranny. The heavy blow thus given to Utopian 
schemes, and the consequent subsidence of political 
excitement, were circumstances wiiich favoured the 
spread of the Gospel. The land was weary of projects^ 
\vars, and commotions, fruitless in everything but diS' 
appointment and misery. 



10 

. Men now began, with a renewal of confidence, to re- 
turn to their former pursuits. The North was tran- 
quillised — the manufacturer, the agriculturist, the 
merchant, resuming the shuttle, the spade, the counter. 
The insurgent Presbyterians, with few exceptions, had 
thoroughly detected the anti-Protestant, foreign, and 
anti-national designs treacherously hidden under the 
guise of liberty, and became sincere converts to the 
solid advantages secured to the community by a nicely 
balanced and well-ordered Constitution. In other 
parts of the kingdom the embers smouldered, though 
the flame was extinguished — the sea heaved after the 
storm had subsided. 

Martial law continued in force till March, 1799, 
This explains the necessity for the measure adopted 
by Dr. Coke, at the ensuing Conference, to facilitate 
the mission of Ouseley and Graham. He procured 
protection for them from the Marquis Cornwallis, 
then Lord Lieutenant, addressed to all the civil and 
military authorities. The manner of the appointment 
was as wise as it was benevolent. They were not con- 
fined to a circuit, but at full liberty to travel through 
the whole land — to fill Ireland with their doctrine. 
The permission given by the Government to all the 
preachers of the connexion, to exercise their ministry 
during the Insurrection, was no small expression of 
confidence in their disinterested loyalty ; confixdence 
justified, before and since, by the tried principles of 
the body. 

The chief agents employed in the earlier Irish Mission 
were remarkably fitted for their work. The first of 
these, Thomas Walsh, appointed by Mr. Wesley him- 
self, besides his fluency in the Irish tongue, which 



11 

sometimes saved his life, was remarkable not only 
for sanctity, tender pity for the blind led by the blind 
inithe Church of Kome, to which he formerly belonged, 
cogency of argument, and aptness of illustration, but 
for the earnestness of his manner, and the frequency 
of his appeals to Divine authority. Once that Mr. 
Tackaberry visited Wexford, he went to see an aged 
woman, who, he understood, was personally acquainted 
with him. Having mentioned his name, her counte- 
nance brightened and her manner became animated. 
'' What do you know," she asked, " about Thomas 
Walsh ?" " Why, I have read his memoirs with plea- 
sure and profit." "01 but I knew him," she added, 
with deep emotion. '* Well, and what sort of preacher 
was he?'' " 0, he was the preacher!" "Yes; but 
what was the character of his preaching?" "0, it 
was he who knew how to preach ! In the middle of 
his sermon, he used to clasp his hands in an agony of 
prayer that the people might be converted now; and, 
under his ministry, God saved mij soul." His habit 
was, she said, to demonstrate the doctrines he taught 
by numerous and forcible quotations from the Word 
of God.>:^ 

* It is related of Mr. Walsh, that, in the midst of severe 
study, regardless of "bodily weakness and suffering, his custom 
was to rise and sing : — 

" 0, love, how cheering is thy ray, " 
All pain hefore thy presence flies ! 
Care, anguish, sorrow, melt away. 

Where'er thy healing beams arise ! 
O, Jesus, nothing may I see, 
Nothmg desne or seek but thee !" 
Such an apostrophe to incarnate love, and at such times, fur- 
nishes no slender proof of his high attainments in holiness, and 
qualifications for the office of the Christian ministry. 



12 

None of these evangelists, perhaps, equalled Ouseley 
in tact, for addressing promiscuous multitudes in the 
open air. An instance of such tact, of which I was an 
eye and ear witness, occurred one Sabhath evening, in 
the town of Drogheda. Leaving his hat in the Tholsel, 
and standing on the steps, he commenced singing a 
Hymn. Soon a crowd gathered around, chiefly Eo- 
manists. The last verse he sung was : — 
" To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
"Who sweetly all agree 
To save a world of sinners lost, 
Eternal glory be!" 

*' Now," he said in familiar style, "you all believe 
that — whatever religion you are of — you believe there's 
a God ? I know you do. Aye, and you believe in the 
Trinity — that there are three persons in one God ? 
To be sure you do. And you've all made a covenant 
with that one God in your baptism, whatever Church 
you belong to, that you'd renounce the Devil and all 
his works. I'm come here to put you in mind of it 
— to get you to keep your covenant, and be true to 
God. And if you keep your covenant, what altered 
times we'll have ! what happy times we'll have ! Then 
we'll have no more cursing and swearing ; then, no 
more people will be seen rolling drunk through the 
streets on a Sunday." Here, a man in the crowd 
shouted, '' The Devil thrust you with a glass yourself, 
if you had it." At this the preacher seemed horrified. 
*' Oh ! oh !" he cried ; *' Did you hear that man ? Oh ! 
did you hear him blaspheming in the open day? 
Look," said he, pointing at him withhis finger, '* there 
he is !" The man held down his head abashed, and 
gave no further interruption. The missionary pro- 



]3 

ceeded in the same strain until he uttered a sentiment 
to which a woman, who stood beside me, objected 
with great earnestness, in Irish. Turning towards 
her with surprise and displeasure, he exclaimed, 
*' Oh ! did you hear that w^oman ? Did you hear 
what she said ? She's drunk this time o' day ! There 
she is — look at her !" She said no more until at the 
close, she observed, wdth much emotion, in my hear- 
ing, ''Well, that's the best sermon I ever heard!" 
Mr. Ouseley concluded an address of about twenty-five 
or thirty minutes, by repeating the Lord's Prayer, As 
he bowed, and was going to get his hat, a man cried 
out, " You forgot the 'Hail Mary' — why didn't you 

say the ' Hail Mary ? ' " Mr. turned upon him 

with fen^ent indignation : " How dare you speak so 
disrespectfully of the blessed Virgin? You're very 
impertinent. How dare you ! " A rebuke which 
seemed to meet with universal approbation. 

The sincere reverence with which he was w^ont to 
speak of the "blessed" Mary procured him many a 
respectful hearing. I w^as present on another occasion, 
in the town of Granard, w^hen he announced for his 
text Mark xvi. 15, 16. The congregation, chiefly 
Eomanists, filled all the available rooms of an un- 
tenanted house. His divisions were bold, and rather 
polemical : 

I. What sort of men did Christ send to preach his 
Gospel ? 

II. What was it they preached ? The Gospel. 

III. The effects which followed. 

The difficulty was to discuss the subject inoffensively, 

and yet not shun to declare the whole counsel of God. 

In answering the first question, he went on to say that 



14 



the men who got the commission in the text were not 
horse-raiiers, card-players, or drmikards — leaving his 
conm-e^atioii to make their own inferences concerning 
immoral ministers and priests. In explaining the 
second point, he bore heavily upon tradition, without 
once naming it. The Gospel they preached was the 
inspired — the ivritten Go^el. " Now," he said, ad- 
dressing himself to the mothers present — "If your 
child was sick, you'd send for the doctor, wouldn't you? 
To be sure you would. Well, the doctor comes, you 
describe the child's symptoms, and he begins to pre- 
scribe. Give it this — don't give it tjiat — in so many 
hours give it the other — and in so long a time after 
repeat it again. But you will say, " I'm afraid I'll 
forget it, doctor; write it down, if you please." Here 
there was a loud mm^mur through the congregation, 
for they perceived his drift, and there was reason to 
fear for his personal safety ; but he contrived to in- 
troduce the name of the Virgin Mary at the moment 
with an expression of respectful regard. The ferment 
subsided immediately, and he finished without serious 
interruption. 

The zeal of this evangelist never cooled. In old 
age it retained all the quenchless ardour of youth ; and 
it was the pure flame of love — love to the erring and 
the deceived, especially in Ireland. Once that he 
was at the Mission-house in London, he w^as asked 
in the committee to engage in prayer for two 
missionaries just appointed to the foreign field. A 
few petitions were devoted to them, when, forgetting 
all other topics, he poured out his soul, in agonizing 
earnestness, for "his poor country." Another visit 
which he paid to Drogheda while I was stationed there, 



15 



will furnish an instructive example of this undimi- 
nished zeal. This was in his seventy-third year. 
Preaching in the chapel on a Sabbath evening, he 
announced that he would preach there again next 
morning at seven o'clock. By mistake he was at the 
gate an hour before the time. Going to the Tholsel 
to ascertain the hour correctly, I followed, and found 
him preaching to the labourers who w^ere waiting to 
be hired. And here an incident occurred, illustrative 
of his calm trust in the distinguishing care of Divine 
Providence. A large sea-shell, flung with violence 
from a window opposite, fell at his feet with fearful 
crash. He continued his address unmoved, and 
without caring to notice it. As we returned to the 
chapel, I said, " Mr. Ouseley, that shell would have 
inflicted serious injury had it struck you ; it was 
within half a yard of hitting you." Making the usual 
motion with his finger — '*An inch," he replied, "is as 
good as a mile ! " He kept his appointment at seven. 

As he advanced in life, the overthrow of Popery be- 
came his absorbing desire — it might almost be said 
his single aim — and the " ruling passion" was " strong 
in death/' This feature is distinctly marked by the 
Eev. William Keilly, in his excellent "memorial" of 
him. A brother from the country mentioned to me 
that he once visited the venerable missionary in his 
last illness. The permission to pray was readily 
given. As he earnestly supplicated that God might 
graciously sustain his suffering servant, and admi- 
nister an abundant entrance to him into Heaven, Mr. 
Ouseley interposed, saying, ^' Stop, dear— pray — pray 
that I may live to see an end of that fell Apostacy !" 

Eough in his exterior ; sound in his physical con- 



16 



stitution ; overflowing in compassion' for the millions 
oppressed and ruined by priestly cupidity and des- 
potism; thoroughly enlightened in his opposition to 
doctrinal Popery, as embodied in the Trent Canons ; 
chary of politics ; decisive in purpose ; fearless of 
danger ; ever on the aggressive ; superabundant in 
labours; preaching occasionally six times a day, " in 
and out," as himself used to phrase it; unmoved by ap- 
palling difficalties, like another " Great Heart;" and 
withal, a refreshing example of patient continuance 
in well-doing — he was the Martin Luther of the 
Irish Eeformation. 

Scarcely inferior — in some respects superior — was 
Charles Graham, his early companion in labour and 
travel ; a man whose memory is worthy of all honour, 
and to whose character, as an Irish evangelist, there is 
reason to hope justice will yet be done. 

Mr. Graham was eminently spiritual — a good man, 
full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. Nor did 

" His faith forsake its hold, 
His hope decline, his love grow cold," 

as the following fact will evince : — 

Towards the close of his ministry, he was in the 
habit of making a pastoral visit monthly, at mid-day, 
to the family of Mr. Morris, of Ballycanew. The last 
time he called, there was such extraordinary power 
and unction in his prayer, that Mrs. Morris en- 
quired, " Mr. Graham, is your soul nearer to God 
than usual ?" " O ! yes," he replied, " much nearer." 
She never saw him more. 

In him, also, abhorrence to Komish delusions^ 
pity for the deluded, and indignation against the 
deluders, fervently commingled. Preaching once, in 



17 

the village above referred to, he took for his text, 
*' Why stand ye here all the day idle ?" Not caring 
to spend long time in demonstrating what was the 
original scope of the parable, he proceeded to make a 
practical use of the pointed interrogatoiy, by showing 
who might be considered religiously "idle." Having 
instanced other examples — " This morning," he said, 
'^ as I was riding here to preach, I was overtaken by a 
man, galloping furiously, to go for the priest." Then 
pausing, he exclaimed, with energy, " he was idle !" 

His regular custom was, when on the Newtownbarry 
mission, to preach in the markets weekly. In this 
work, he had trial of cruel mockings, with various 
other annoyances. But none of these things moved 
him. For out-door preaching he was pre-eminently 
qualified. A penetrating look, a commanding voice, 
and an authoritative manner, awed, silenced, and fixed 
the attention of his street congregations. An instance 
may be given. At a watch-night in Gorey, he pub- 
lished that the Eev. Charles Mayne would preach in 
the street the next day. The time arrived, but the 
crowd yelled, and some began to stone the preacher. 
Unable to proceed, that mild and amiable minister 
said, " If you keep quiet, I'll preach ;" but in vain. 
Here Mr. Graham stood up, and stretching out his 
hand, cried, with stentorian voice, " Mark him that 
throws ! mark him that throws !" He then gave them 
a brief, pointed, affectionately-earnest exhortation on 
the fall of man, the desperate wickedness of the 
human heart, the necessity of repentance, and the 
right method of turning to God — to which they 
listened with patient attention. Addressing a friend 
who accompanied him through the street to his 



8 



lodging, he said, " Mark my words, Allan; good will 
result from thia meeting." It was according to his 
faith. A man, thoroughly awakened to a sense of his 
condition as a sinner, soon after obtained mercy, be- 
came established in grace, and had a church formed 
in his house. Thus did the hardy husbandman sow 
without regarding the wind, and thus did God mul- 
tiply the sower's seed. 

Nor was it by preaching in the highways and hedges, 
the sti'eets and lanes only, that Mr. Graham laboured 
to bring Komanists to the knowledge of the truth, but 
by personal argument when opportunity served. His 
reasonings, in such free and friendly discussions, were 
often irresistible. On one occasion he held a length- 
ened debate with one of them, on " Which is the true 
Church?" "Now, friend," said Mr. G., at last, "I 
will ask you one question : If I went next Sunday to 
the Chapel where you attend, and took out of it all 
the bad characters — the rogues, liars, drunkards, 
swearers, profligates, &c., how many, think you, would 
I leave behind?" " Why, sir," the man replied, con- 
founded, '• If you went so close as that, you would 
take the priest off the altar !" An argument more con- 
clusive, because more intelligible, more simple, more 
palpable than that in Milner's End of Controversy! Two 
Eomanists, who afterwards became able ministers of 
the New Testament, in the Wesleyan body, were con- 
verted, through grace, from error to truth, from sin to 
God, by such affectionate demonstrations and appeals 
in private, on the part of Mr. Graham. He was held 
in the highest veneration and esteem by those among 
whom he laboured. His great faithfulness and use- 
fulness as a preacher, his pastoral spirit and fatherly 



19 

manner, when on the mission above named, had so 
endeared him to the people, that his parting from 
them bore an almost literal resemblance to that of 
Paul from the Ephesian elders : "And they all wept 
sore, and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him ; sor- 
rowing most of all for the words which he spake, that 
they should see his face no more." 

The following contrast between him and Ouseley 
is from the pen of one who had an intimate acquaint- 
ance with the men and their communications : 

" The Irish missionaries, most distinguished at any 
time, were the late Eev. Gideon Ouseley and the Kev. 
Charles Graham — men dissimilar in their character 
and talents, but each inspired with a pure zeal for 
the truth of Christ, for the salvation of sinners, and 
both perfect masters of the Irish language. Mr. Gra- 
ham had no pretensions to grammatical knowledge : 
Mr. Ouseley w^as a scholar. The former was gifted 
naturally with the power of persuasion; the latter with 
powers of reasoning that were irresistible. The voice 
of Mr. Graham was soft and musical, and his words 
flowed like a river that swept all resistance before it : 
the voice of Mr. Ouseley was sometimes rough and 
sepulchral, from frequently preaching in the open air ; 
but his eloquence, particularly in the Irish language, 
w^as like the torrent that dashed over the impending 
rock, and spread a verdure and freshness on the vale. 
Mr. Graham would sometimes, by the natural force of 
a mind filled with holy truth, bring the Scriptures to 
bear upon the errors and prejudices of men in a man- 
ner that would convince all. Mr. Ouseley, by argu- 
ments the most logical, by research — varied and 
extensive — applied to every case and every mind, 



20 

would stop the mouths of gainsayers, and make 
even the enemies of truth cry out, ' It's all true, and 
it's useless to deny it.' During the earlier times of 
their career, many hundreds of those educated in the 
errors of the Eomish creed were converted from their 
delusions and sins, and added to the living Church 
of Jesus Christ. Graham lahoured until, going to one 
of his idaces from the town of Athlone, the weary 
wheels of life nearly stood still ; his head fell down 
on his horse's neck, and he was conveyed to his house. 
In a few days his happy spirit took its flight. 

" Ouseley laboured until within a few days of his 
lamented death. The names of those devoted men 
have no longer a place in the annals of time ; but the 
remembrance of their zeal, their labours, and their 
virtues, shall be cherished while patriotism and a love 
of truth shall have a place in our country." 

William Hamilton, appointed missionary to the 
Province of Ulster in 1804, but called to the Irish 
Itinerancy in 1788, by the Eev. John Wesley, exhi- 
bited a more striking and happy adaptation to the 
Evangelistic work, in some respects, than any of his 
cotemporary fellow-labourers. Could he but preach 
in the Irish language, he would have been truly emi- 
nent as the minister of God for good to his country- 
men. As it was, he possessed qualities of mind and 
heart which rendered him everyw^here acceptable and 
useful. Plain and unprepossessing in his personal 
appearance ; unpolished in manner ; homely, if not 
rude, in speech ; kindly affectioned to all, especially 
to the young ; ever burning with desire to honour his 
Divine Master, by saving souls from death ; he was 
endowed with an original genius, a sparkling wit, 



21 



# 



generally exciting^the pleasurable emotions — not to 
say the risibility of his hearers — and largely subserving 
the purposes of his mission. Sententious, pointed, 
full of famiUar — sometimes humorous — illustration, 
allowable, perhaps, in him, but dangerous to imitate 
• — ^his sermons were short, designed for impression, 
and could not fail to be understood, felt, and re- 
membered. A minister who was present relates that, 
preaching once in the open air at Oxmantown Green, 
in Dublin, to a mixed and turbulent multitude — a 
place not far from Newgate Prison — and seeing them 
bent on mischief, he called upon them to engage in 
prayer. Yv^ith much solemnity he began : " Glory be 
to God for Hell ! Glory be to God for a place in 
which the wicked are to be confined eternally ! 
Lord, Hell in the other world is like Newgate in this ! 
Only for Newgates in this world, and Hell in the other, 
none of us would get leave to live at all !" Struck 
with admiration at the startling truth, and convicted 
in their consciences, his congregation were awed into 
silence, and gave him a respectful hearing. 

The originality referred to is manifest in all his 
epistolary communications. Shortly after I was 
stationed at Dundalk — he having spent two years 
there previously as a supernumerary — ^I received a 
letter from him, of which the following is an extract : 

'' My DEAR Bkother, — I have no personal acquaint- 
ance with you — but, as you are a brother chip, I make 
free to write you a line. I spent two happy years in 
Dundalk, and love the people there Yery much. I 
hope they are increasing in number and grace, and 
would be greatly pleased to know^ it. Sm^e you will 
search all the comers of the town, warning every maa 



» 



22 



and teaching even/man, that you may be a general 
blessing ; and^n't wait till the people send for you, 
but run intof every house, especially where they are 
not amons^t us — they have the most need — and say, 
' Behold /ne Lamb.' 

" I hope you have left shame and fear behind you, or 
sent tflem to Hell, where they came from — they are 
great /nemies to Methodist preachers : they will prevent 
}0u from preaching on the street, if they can, at the 
upt/er market-house, after church, where you w^ould 
h^ve a great congregation ; and this would help to fill 
-^our house in the evening. But the Devil, and even 
some of our old friends there, would not like it. Never 
ask them ; but, like the herald of the Lord, go out 
with your trumpet, and sound an alarm in that open 
place, and tell the people that Methodism is alive, and 
rising over all. I remember, four and-forty years ago, 
in Tralee, when I was but a boy, and had only a small 
ram's horn, to be up on the street, crying aloud, 
* tmn, or burn.' It is true the stones were flying 
over my head, which is now white, but was never cut 
yet. Street preaching should never cease till time is 
no more. 

'' I wish you would inquire after Mr. C.'s sister about 
Forkhill — her son lives next to the inn in Dundalk. 
Call there. His brother A was in society : fol- 
low him. Sit and read for B. G. sometimes ; and if 

old K is out of Hell, don't let him into it, if you 

can. Go out the road through the turnpike ; call at 
M. M.'s school, and over the hills where I used to go ; 

call with Mr. P , the old preacher's son, and in 

many houses up the road toward B. H.'s and down 
Barrack street, and everywhere the Devil has been, and 



leave your track behind you. The more you do for 
God, the better he will like you, and the brighter 
your crown. 

*' Perhaps I have cut out as much work for you as 
you will be able to make up for a while. -- "^ - 
Yours in sincerity, Wm. Hamilton." 

In another letter h^ informs me that it was he who 
recommended Mr., Quseley for the work of the mi- 
nistry, adding that t|ie connexion should value him 
very much. It too often happens that blessings, w 
in possession, are not estimated accordip^'^ their 
worth, and that their removal onlyf^jH/clemonstrates 
their value. It ought to^iia-c11ierv\'ise. The labours 
of that great evangelist v/ere not the less to be appre- 
ciated when Ireland w^as blessed with them, than 
since he was taken to Heaven. 

Other extracts will plp.ce the features in Mr. Hamil- 
ton's character under (Consideration more vividly be- 
fore the reader : | 

" My good BeotherA—You live in my affections. 
My heart is full of the^ preachers. I was highly 
pleased that Mr. Newton {)reached there in Kilkenny, 
I have a sermon of his, in the American newspaper 
sent me by my son, on Phil. iv. 6, 7, well worth a 
pound note. May God spare him long to the Church. 

" Mr. Ouseley and I raised the Devil on the street 
in Kilkenny, about thirty years ago, and the Mayor 
was brought to lay him. The mob pelted him when 
he came, and we had to fly to the preaching-house, 
Y'ou are at the Gaelick you say. You do well to learn 
all you can, and use it when needful (see 1 Cor. xiv. 
39). A little of it may be very useful on the streets 
and in travelling the road. They would take you for 



24 

the sa^mt (priest), and confess as they have done with 
me. A newspaper tells me that about 700 of the 
Papists have turned to Church, about Dingle : so much 
out of their ' seven millions,' as they say. Babylon 
must fall — -down with it. We had a good class meet- 
ing last Sunday. I was up and over the hills before 
seven o'clock. I have now seen about eleven years of 
Sundays, and still more alive to God than ever, I 
never was a man of sorrows. I had my trials in com- 
mon with others, but I endeavoured to sing my cares 
away : 

*" Cheerful and blithe my way pursue, 
And with the promised land in view. 
Singing to Grod return.' 

"Do you keep all the rules of society yourself, and 
insist on the members to do so ? The rules should be 
read from the pulpit sometimes, and explained, instead 
of a sermon. Why not ? The preacher would do well 
to ask the family where he lodges, one by one, has he 
got religion? For I see some in society not even 
seeking for it. And inquire if they have family wor- 
ship on the week-days. '^- ^^ Alas ! there is too 
much ill-temper in families when the preacher is not 
there, and these things should be often hinted at in 
the congregation. I do not like long sermons or 
meetings of any kind. * * * q.^^ acquainted 
with all you can, make free with every one, and it is 
a hard turf a warm coal would not kindle." 

The following is a graphic description of the toils, 
endurances, dangers, and encouragements of our early 
Irish missionaries : — 

" My hand is stiff, as you see, and only for a sense 
of duty I would hardly write any. W^hen you men- 
tioned Keady, and preaching on the streets there, I 



25 

remembered that on the road one Sunday, abov^ 
Keady, the missionary spirit came upon me, near 
forty years ago, and in a few minutes I had an oppor- 
tunity of exercising it, by a crowd coming down the 
road. So I dismounted, called them to the side of a 
turf stack, and preached like an angel — as well as 
I could. Next day I went to the market of Aughna- 
cloy and preached. The same spirit has remained 
with me ever since, and will I think to the end. I have 
been ten years on the Irish mission, riding through fairs 
and markets in every part of the kingdom, sometimes 
shouting, * Come all of you here ! come all of you 
here !' and sitting on my saddle, preached with delight; 
sometimes on ' the Devil has desired to have you ;' 
at other times on * Christ died for the ungodly ;' but 
chiefly on ' Cease to do evil, learn to do well.' In this 
way", by loud speaking, I got a crack in my earthen 
vessel, but a hoop has kept it, these many years, safe 
and well. This light infantry work tends greatly 
to crucify the old man. I never slept sounder than 
after a day's work of this kind. I often had to endure 
cruel mockings, with many a honomondhoid, (your soul 
to the Devil) and stones flying — but I watched as well 
as prayed, and still escaped wonderfully. When up 
the country I was in most danger, had to get license 
and carry arms for my defence, after being way-laid 
by a crowd of Papists, in a lonely place, who started 
up on all sides, and cried 'Deliver.' By a strong 
horse and good spurs I made my way through them, 
but they beat poor Ouseley greatly. 

" In the county Mayo our lodgings were not good. 
The little kitchen was the cow-house, preaching-house, 



96 

dining room, and sometimes bed-chamber and all. If 
there was a bed-room I had to pick my steps going to 
bed, for the wet. Often the dog would come through 
the hole of the wall, and lie down beyond me, with- 
out ever washing his feet, and madam sow, with her 
family, under the bed — but the blessing of God was 
with us. * * Often, while the people were cry- 
ing for pardon, the cows had like to break their ties. 
The conversion of S. B., his mother, and many more 
of the Papists, made up for all the trouble. 

" Mr. Ouseley has been a blessing to thousands in 
Ireland. His zeal has stirred up many of the 
preachers to open their mouths wider. Methodism 
is only in its youth. By the time it is another hun- 
dred years old, it will be the glory of the earth. With 
respect to the jubilee to come, (the centuary celebra- 
tion) I leave that to wiser heads ; but I believe it will 
be a good time. My own soul is often as full of 
heavenly joy as it can well contain. We serve a good 
Master : He will soon say, ' Well done,' and then, ! 
how joyful the conqueror's song. * * Keep your 
place and govern all, but let none govern you. I am 
sorry for poor E . She was a gentle, sweet crea- 
ture. Your good wife should often see her and pray 
with her. The preacher's wife should be the second 
volume to himself Mind the outskirts of the town, 
where I used to be. I suppose you have prayer 
meetings among them in the week. 

*' P.S. — J. F , intending to be a priest, I met 

in the Bullock-land, and put a little book in his 
hand — "Alleine's Alarm." God opened his eyes, and 
he is now a clergyman in the Church, in the county 
Koscommon — the fruit of the mission." 



W\i2it a sample this letter gives of the privations and 
sufferings clieerfuUij submitted to by the primitive 
agents of Methodism in Ireland, that they might 
preach among benighted Eomanists and neglected 
Protestants the unsearchable riches of Christ ! 

The missionary spirit did " remain" with him, as 
well as his friend Ouseley, ''to the end." He heard, 
with joy, that Mr. Holmes " had made the streets of 
Newry ring with the sound of his ram's horn," be- 
cause that this was '' the way to fill the house with 
the congregation, and to keep the people from sleep- 
ing." He wxnt out himself to the fields, when resid- 
ing near that town, stood on a gTeat rock every dry 
Sunday, and ministered to listening crowds. He 
counselled me earnestly to follow the soldiers, to 
speak to them on the streets, and to "make haste, 
for the Devil was busy, and would run everywhere." 
He warned me kindly to keep out of debt, saying, 
"" Much depends on the preacher's wife in this matter ; 
but I suppose you have the best you could get, in 
every sense." He urged attention to the children's 
meeting, by the consideration that it was " a fine 
nm'ser}^ for the Church ;" and that young persons 
should be employed as missionary and chapel-fund 
collectors; for his motto was, " All hands to work for 
a good Master." This letter he thus concludes : "I 
tell that wonder with joy, a MetJwdist Chapel in the 
city of Paris 1 May your joys aboimd every day ! 
Does your wife meet a class ? 

William Hamilton." 

The young man appointed with me to the Dundalk 
circuit, a young man of promise, having yielded to 
discouragement, resolved, almost immediately, to re- 



S8 

turn home. At my instance, Mr. Hamilton wrote to 
dissuade him from his purpose. The letter will at 
once he recognized as a true picture of the man, men- 
tally, spiritually, ministerially : 

"• My dear Brother B. — Last night, I heard that 
you have thoughts of grounding your arms. That 
is to me a good sign : If you were not likely to he 
very useful in the Church, the Devil would rather you 
should [stay in the work; hut he is afraid of you, 
and wishes you to go home. If you would, all the 
Devils in Hell would set up a shout and say, ' See 
how we chased him off his station !' Forbid it, Lord ! 
My first circuit was Brookhorough — 1788. I had not 
gone twice round till I met the Devil, who told me 
(what was very true) that I was a weak and useless 
creature, and that it was a shame to impose upon the 
people by sending such a novice amongst them. I 
believed all he said, and off I ran, till I was half way 
home, and met a good woman that asked me where I 
was going? I told her. She said it was the Devil 
was hunting me, and turned me back to the work, 
saying it was like what the Devil would do. When 
W. D. came to me his second year, in Sligo, he took 
the same disorder — ^began to cry one day, said he was 
not fit for the work, and should go home. I thought 
of the Brookboro' Devil, hooted him out of it, dried 
up his tears, encouraged him, and he did very 
well ever since. 'Tis a shame to be cowardly. Take 
courage ; draw your sword like a man ; be it long or 
short — sharp or blunt — and make a flourish, as if you 
were not afraid, and you'll frighten the fiend to his 
own Hell! Take your harp from the willow, and 
sing your cares away. You will do as well as you can^ 



S9 

and an angel can do no more. If all the preachers 
in the connexion were to look at themselves more 
than at then' Helper, we might all go home ; hut God 
is with us, and that is all, and the best of all. 

'' "WTien you get your breath a little, send me aline, 
and tell me all the tricks the Devil plays on you, for 
I am not ignorant of his devices. Are you from Mount- 
charles or thereabout, where I was in 1789 ? I will 
be glad to correspond with you, and help you against 
your foe. Take your sling — God will put a stone in 
it, and youll win the well-fought day. Yom^s affec- 
tionately, Wm. Hamilton, an Old Soldier, 

To Brother B., a Young Recruit." 

Devoted to God from the age of fourteen ; called 
by the Eev. John Wesley into the Irish Itinerancy; 
the joyful witness of many blessed revivals of religion ; 
well versed in Holy Scripture ; apt to teach ; earnestly 
solicitous for the welfare of the young ; an ardent 
lover of his country; vigorous in faith; warm in 
charity; buoyant in spirit ; cheerful in hope ; patient 
in tribulation— Mr. Hamilton finished his self-sacri- 
ficing course, his race of gior}^ and of shame, with this 
refreshmg and edifying testimony: "My soul is on 
the wing. I am very happy. I bless the day that I 
was bom. What hath the world to equal this ? I 
bid its smiles and fro^Mis farewell — for, ' Angels beckon 
me away, and Jesus bids me come.' If I could shout 
that the world might hear, I would tell of the love of 
God my Saviom*. Not a cloud ! Victory over death ! 
The sting is taken away ! Glory to God !" 

The success of the Irish Mission soon rendered 
necessary an increase in the number of agents. 
Andrew Taylor was added in 1 805. Other estimable 



30 

men also shared its toils and triumphs. Our design 
requires that these characteristic notices be closed 
with him. 

Mr. Taylor could not preach in Irish, and yet he 
was an able and effective Irish missionary. While a 
knowledge of the language is a powerful auxiliary — 
an infallible means of access to the Irish heart — such 
knowledge, without zeal or energy, is of little or no 
avail. 

To suppose that fluency in the native tongue is an 
absolutely essential qualification for an Irish evangelist 
is an error. This the career of Messrs. Hamilton 
and Taylor abundantly proves. It is most desirable 
— it is invaluable — when found in connexion with 
piety to God, charity to man, and burning zeal — the 
indispensable requisites. Before the famine, it is calcu- 
lated that the Irish- speaking population amounted to 
3,000,000. But how many of these understood and 
could converse in English more or less ? The major 
part of them ! And shall such multitudes be left to 
perish in ignorance and vice until, as if by miracle, 
men are raised up able to preach to them in the ver- 
nacular language ? Let the churches employ the 
most suitable agents within reach, until they can se- 
cure such as they desire. Meanwhile, if Irish-speaking 
Komanists are ever to be converted from the error of 
their way, why not missionaries take the same pains 
to qualify themselves for the task as those do who are 
sent to distant lands ? 

Another mistake into which some persons, sincerely 
anxious for Ireland's regeneration, have fallen, is that 
the Industrial School system is everything as to in- 
strumentality ; that the old missionary modes should- 



I 



31 

be exploded; that the only hope for Ireland is to 
educate the young ; and thus the sanguine expectation 
is cherished, that, in a very few years, the country will 
be tui'-ned into another paradise ! The salvation of 
the adult population, it would seem, is, to such per- 
sons, not indeed matter of indifference, but of despair. 
The Apostle Paul, according to such theory, should 
have established schools throughout his whole pro- 
gress first, and thus christianise the young, instead of 
labouring in-doors and out-of-doors to convert the 
** adult population." The foolishness of God is wiser 
than men, and it pleases him, by the foolishness of 
preaching — his own standing ordinance, however un- 
suitable or insufficient in the eyes of would-be-wise 
men — ^to save them that believe. By all means let 
angry politics be discountenanced ; let the land ques- 
tion be settled ; let Parliamentary legislation for Ireland 
be generous in its spirit and objects ; let Industrial 
and Scriptural schools be everywhere set up ; let all 
these be employed as auxiliaries in the work of Ire 
land's social and spiritual regeneration ; but if one or 
all of them be made a substitute for a preached Gospel, 
then other remedy is sought for Ireland's maladies 
and woes than that devised and prescribed by the un- 
erring wisdom of God. 

In 1814 Mr. Taylor was appointed to Enniscorthy, 
a town at the foot of the far-famed Vinegar Hill, as a 
missionaiy; his field of toil embracing a large portion 
of the county of Wexford. There was great wisdom 
and propriety in assigning this part of the country to 
him as the sphere of his evangelistic labours. He 
had been one of the prisoners in the Market-house of 
Wexford in 1798, awaiting his turn to be brought out 




32 



and piked on the bridge by the infuriate insurgents." 
Five or six times he had been liberated by a rebel 
captain, who, favourably impressed by his Christian 
bearing, thought to save his life ; but as often he was 
seized again, and thrown back into prison. One of 
these times, w^andering through the town, a pikeman 
accosted him, with murderous look and attitude, 
** Who are you?" " I am," said Mr. Taylor, calmly, 
'' a Methodist preacher." '* Aye," replied the rebel, 
terror stricken, "You wouldn't tell a lie!" And he 
turned away, leaving the man of God unmolested. 
These facts were known by the Protestants of the 
country, connexions or descendants of those men 
who had suffered in '98, and who, while regarding 
Methodism as an innovation, opened wide their 
hearts and doors to receive one who had passed un- 
scathed through those sanguinary scenes. Every- 
where he was welcomed as an angel of God. Nor did 
he so exhibit his Methodism as to excite their sus- 
picions or wound their prejudices. He, too, was '* a 
Protestant, and the son of a Protestant." Ere long 
he w^as universally esteemed as the redoubtable cham- 
pion of Protestantism. 

The staple of his ministry consisted of a distinct 
announcement, a clear exposition, a forcible appli- 
cation of those Scripture truths which stand opposed 
to Popish error, and to all formalism in religion. 
Fact, figure, fable, was occasionally introduced, in 
familiar illustration, especially if its bearing were 
against Eome, — the Pope and his Cardinals, as repre- 
sented in the picture, trying, one after another, to 
blow out the candle of the Keformation, — for example. 
In sustaining his position by numerous and irresis- 



33 

tible Scripture proofs, lie seemed to have taken 
Thomas Walsh for his model. *'As Paul says, as 
John says, as our Lord says, "—his usual mode of 
quotation, explains the manner in which he preached 
'* the Word." These quotations, expounded and ampli- 
fied as they were made, were generally accompanied 
by a palpable, sometimes an overwhelming, imction 
from the Holy One. His ministry, therefore, was in 
demonstration of the spirit, and with power. 

Mr. Tackaberry was born October 22, 1796. The 
place of his birth was Tomagaddy, in the county of 
Wexford; within a mile of Ballycanew, the village 
where the celebrated Priest Murphy officiated, who, 
showing his dupes a handful of musket balls at the 
battle of x^rklow, persuaded them that his person was 
impervious to heretic bullets.* It is also contiguous 
to Oidart, where a gallant detachment of the North 
Cork Militia were cut to pieces, and to the fatal pass 
of Tubberneerin, w^here a column of military, under 
Colonel Walpole, were surprised and slaughtered. 
The locality, as w^ell as the period of Mr. Tackaberry's 
birth, together with the fact that his father's house 

* The fact is accredited, beyond doubt, that he produced to 
the unhappy savages who obeyed his orders, a number of 
musket bullets, assuring them that they had struck him without 
harm during the action, or were caught by him as they inno- 
cently whistled by. He fell soon after by a round shot from 
one of the Durham guns, while waving a banner over his head, 
emblazoned with a huge cross, and the motto of * Death, or 
liberty.' The chapel of this priest, a rude building, was occu- 
pied by the Methodists, after the rebellion, as a place of preach- 
ing— some paintings in the wall remaining uneffaced^remind- 
ing them of their late deliverance, and inspiring them with 
salutary dread of a church and system, whose avowed aim was 
the extirpation of heretics. 



34 

and offices had been all burned down, and that the 
first Bible in which he read had been pierced by a 
pikeman in the rebellion, w^ill account for the strong 
Protestant views and convictions which he cherished 
from early youth, and which he was w^ont to express, 
as occasion offered, to the close of life. 

Mr. Tackaberry's early Sabbath school training 
laid the foundation, in his case, as in that of many 
others, for eminent piety and extensive ministerial 
usefulness — a fact which explains the lively interest he 
ever felt in this generally slow, but certain, mode of 
doing good. The Eev. John Wesley, intensely alive 
to the importance of this agency, called first into ope- 
ration in his day, thus records his estimate of it in 
wiiting to his brother Charles : "I am glad you have 
set up Sunday schools at Newcastle. This is one of 
the best institutions which have been seen in Europe 
for centuries, and will do more and more good, pro* 
vided the teachers and inspectors do their duty;" and, 
then, with his usual foresight and sagacity, he ob- 
serves : " Nothing can prevent the success of this 
blessed work but the neglect of the instruments. 
Therefore" — here he inculcates ministerial oversight — 
" be sure to watch them with all care, that they may 
not grow weary in well-doing."* 

In 1806-8, Mr. Tackaberry attended the Sabbath 
school in Monomolin, and also evening lectures, con- 
ducted by the Eev. Mr. Mosse, a pious and laborious 
clerg}^man of the Church of England. Methodism 
was the direct means of this clergyman's conversion, 
and of teaching him the way of God more perfectly. 
Attending a meeting, held in Priest Murphy's old 
* Works, vol. 14, p. 210. 



85 

chapel, already noticed, a meeting crowned with 
more than ordinary displays of the Holy Spirit's 
grace and power, Mr, Mosse heard the Word preached 
with great interest, and then stayed to hear the 
relation of Christian experience. When a few gracious 
souls had thankfully declared what God had done 
for them, to the surprise of all, he stood up, and 
testified that he had, on that occasion, obtained peace 
and joy through believing. A memoir of this good 
man's life has been lately published. His biographer 
could not tell at what time he became acquainted with 
experimental religion. It was in 1801, and in the 
manner described, as attested by an eye and ear-wit- 
ness.* 

Mr. Tackaberry joined the Methodist Society in 
1811. The Eev. J. Harman was then stationed on 
the circuit. It was not, however, until the year 1816^ 
according to a' letter of his Aunt Morris, now lying 
before me, that he was decidedly brought into the en- 
j oyment of Divine favour. That year an extraordinary 
and extensive revival of religion took place, chiefly 
under the ministry of the Kev. A. Taylor, whose 
mission embraced the counties of Wexford and Wick- 
low. The circumstances of Mr. T.'s conversion are not 
known to the writer, with the exception of a single 
incident, which goes to show, that even before he ob- 
tained mercy, he had formed a character for sobriety. 
Going one day to witness a horse-race, vv^hile the sub- 
ject of religious impressions and concern, but not as 
yet of the faith which overcometh the world, a person 
exclaimed, '' There goes the sainted Tackaberry !" 

"* Rev. M. Lanktree's personal narrative, p. 101. 



36 

The word got such hold of his conscience, and ren- 
dered him so wretched, that he returned home without 
•waiting to witness the amusement. 

Before he became confirmed in rehgion, he yielded, 
in one instance, to temptation. Starting in alarm 
and dismay from ruin's brink, he cried, in deep 
anguish, to the God of all grace for mercy, who, 
through the merit and to the honour of the atone- 
ment, brought him up out of the horrible pit, 
out of the miry clay, set his feet upon a rock, and 
established his goings. If, with bitter reason, like 
Peter, he wept ; like Peter, also, his whole after life 
was one act of humble, ardent, self-denying consecra- 
tion to the service and the glory of his pardoning Lord. 

To the reproach of some who profess and call 
themselves regenerate Christians — while, apparently, 
anxious to serve the spiritual interests of all the world 
beside, they make little or no effort to save the souls 
of their own families. It was otherwise with the 
subject of our narrative. His kindred and acquain- 
tance were the primary objects of his concern. Like 
Andrew, who '* first findeth his own brother Simon," — 
and his finding him implies that he sought him with 
fraternal solicitude ; who announced to him the joy- 
ful news, " We have found the Messias," and then 
eagerl} " brought him to Jesus ;" Mr. Tackaberry first 
induced " his own " mother to hear the word preached 
— a woman who subsequently became an example of 
every Christian virtue. They were obliged to go to 
the meetings by stealth, — so strong was the general 
prejudice against Methodism. Soon after, his Amit 
Morris, spending an evening at Tomagaddy, was pre- 
vailed on to accompany him to hear Mr. Taylor. 



37 

Her consent was the result of much reasoning and 
persuasion, since, although the subject of religious 
awakening at the time, she was accustomed to regard 
the Methodists as the deceivers, who, it was foretold, 
should appear in the latter days. That night, so 
clearly and palpably did the missionary show the 
way of salvation, she believed on Christ with a 
venturous, vigorous faith; and, believing, found life 
through His name. Her husband was immediately 
seized with deep conviction of his sin and danger. 
He could scarce eat or drink for days — such was the 
anguish of his spuit. While she kneeled beside him, 
and poured out her soul for him in an agony of 
prayer, the Lord Jesus was evidently set forth cruci- 
fied before him. Looking to Him he was suddenly 
lightened of his load of guilty w^oe. This couple need 
no eulogy. Their works — of love to God, his minis- 
ters, his cause — praise them in the gate. 

The flame thus kindled soon spread through the 
whole family circle. The conversion of Mr. T.'s 
brother John, subsequently a minister of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church of America, of his step-father, 
and of his Aunts Eades and Gill, of Dublin, followed 
in rapid succession. Mrs. Gill walked high in sal- 
vation. Induced by the importunity of friends, who 
had newly foxnid the Saviour, to visit the scene of 
this revival, and by this time " deep wounded by the 
spirit's sword," she said to Mr. T., one day, " Fossey, 
I am very miserable." He proposed prayer. Before 
tliey rose from their knees her soul was filled with 
unutterable peace and joy through believing. Her 
lot in life was one of suffering. To the praise of all- 
sufficient grace she could say, " The Lord only knows 



38 

the inward and outward trials I have had. Blessed 
be God, I do not feel a wish they had not been. Good is 
the will of the Lord." Her death-bed testimony, sur- 
charged with " glorious matter," though expressed in 
few and plain words, is here recorded to the honour 
of God, under the conviction that it cannot fail to 
edify his Church : — " At first the Lord deeply con- 
vinced me of sin ; he then soundly converted me ; a 
little after he wholly sanctified me ; ever since he has 
kept me ; and now he is going to take me to praise 
him for ever ! " 

Cheered with the result of Mrs. Gill's visit, Mrs. 
Morris corresponded also with her sister Eades, *' on 
the necessity and happiness of serving God;" urging 
her also to come and see them, with a view to her 
conversion. The invitation was accepted, but with a 
different object — namely, to bring her friends back 
from then' folly and enthusiasm. The first evening, 
at family worship, her understanding became en- 
lightened, her conscience thoroughly awakened and 
alarmed. In repeating the Lord's Prayer, Mrs. M. 
paraphrased each petition; showing how God was 
their Father through the sacrifice and mediation of 
Christ ; what was implied in hallowing his name ; 
what the nature of his kingdom was ; what were the 
trespasses which needed forgiveness, &c. ; that her 
sister might have a view of the spiritual and extensive 
import of the prayer she had been saying all her life. 
Mrs. E. rose from her knees with the appalling con- 
viction, that, up to that hour, she had never prayed ! 
The goodly formal saint stood confessed ! With a 
burdened conscience she remained nearly three weeks 
— having purposed at first to stay but a few days — un- 



39 

willing to return home unhappy. She had to leave, 
howev er, under the full power of the spirit of bond- 
age to fear. After intense wrestlings night and day 
for some weeks, she wrote to request the missionary, 
Mr. Graham, with the class, to make her the subject 
of prayer at the appointed time on Sabbath morn- 
ing. "While she met them at the Mercy-seat, the self- 
same hour — 

" She heard the glad sound, 
And liberty found 
Through the blood of the Lamb ; 
And plentiful pardon in Jesus 's name !" 

This excellent woman was in the habit of retiring to 
Whitefriar's Street Chapel on Saturdays for prayer, on 
behalf of her family. Nor did she pray in vain. One 
son, converted when a lad while Mr. Tackaberry 
prayed with him, became a Church of England clergy- 
man; another aWesleyan leader ; others of her children 
also are the subjects of grace — ^affording ground of 
hope, that the almost prophetic confidence to which 
she gave expression, as she lay dying, will be ful- 
filled. ''My whole family.'' she said, with energy and 
delight, " will serve God. This is what I set my 
heart on." 

Seldom are spirituality and Heavenly- mindedness 
found associated with wordly affluence and prosperity. 
Mrs. Eades had all things richly to enjoy, yet set her 
affection on things above. Of this, some of her last 
words give refreshing evidence : '' Who can tell the 
danger^ she said^ of having all, or more than all, the 
heart can wish in this world ? I had this. I saw the 
danger. I asked the Lord to keep my heart from it. 
He did save me : and now all that I ever had is no 



11 



40 



more in my view, compared to what God has set be- 
fore me, than a bit of dirty rumpled paper !" Simple 
and unostentatious in piety; humble, elevated, and 
regular in devotion ; pure and enlarged in charity ; 
ardent and unswerving in her attachment to the 
ministers and cause of Christ ; she adorned the religion 
of the Lord Jesus through life ; and having sustained 
a severe and protracted death-illness with resignation 
and fortitude ; witnessed a good confession ; taught, 
admonished, encouraged, reproved, or solemnly warned 
those who came round her bed, she went in tranquil 
triumph to Heaven. 

Mr. Tackaberry had now vigorously started in that 
race of holy love and soul- saving zeal which he so 
ran — so uniformly, so unweariedly — as to obtain, not 
only the esteem, confidence, and admiration of all 
who knew him, but the promised crown from his ap- 
proving Lord. Successful, as narrated, in bringing 
those of his own house under the power, as well as 
the sound, of the Gospel, henceforward he was carried 
out, in sweet constraint, to live and labour for the 
salvation of all who were " dead " — dead in sin, dead 
in law, and liable to death eternal. He was signally 
owned of God as the messenger of mercy to many in 
the revival commenced so auspiciously, and extended 
so triumphantly, under the ministry of Mr. Taylor ; 
a revival which was the Lord's doing, and marvellous 
in the eyes of all classes, bigotted Romanists and 
formal Protestants alike; a revival in which multi- 
tudes of the latter, and some of the former, creed 
tin-ned to God, did works meet for repentance, ob- 
tained forgiveness of sins, and a title to the heavenly 
inheritance, by faith that is in Christ ; a revival, the 



41 

glorious results of Avhich it is impossible to estimate, 
as to the numbers immediately saved, and who were 
faithful unto death ; to say nothing of the countless 
thousands who have shared, and shall yet share, its 
gracious benefits, not only in the new and old, but in 
the upper and better world. 

Everywhere Mr. T. went, during this revival, God 
was with him, and made him a blessing. The Phari- 
see was stripped of his self-righteousness; the har- 
dened was subdued ; the stout-hearted trembled ; the 
scoffer remained to pray ; mournful broken hearts re- 
joiced to feel the curse removed ; the shout of a king 
was among them ! Classes were organized, and young 
men, full of faith and power, met weekly with Mr. 
T. to receive their allotted work. 

Alive to the inestimable importance of such agency, 
Mr. T, established a Sabbath school in the village of 
Ballycanew. The revival extended to the school. 
Several of the elder children were converted, and de- 
voted tliemselves to God. 

The object aimed at in some Sunday schools, there 
is reason to fear, is merely the instruction, mental 
gratification, or gradual reformation — something short 
of the immediate conversion — of the young. Sabbath 
school teachers ! should not your object be that of 
Him who redeemed your youthful charge, — namely, to 
seek that you may save them ? Is your duty well 
done w^hen you give them, or draw forth their, infor- 
mation as to the bare letter or facts in the lesson ; 
inculcating no vital doctrinal truth, exposing no vice, 
extolling no virtue, exhibiting no blessing to attain, 
no privilege to secure, no duty to perform, no snare to 
shun ; whiling away the hour as if the precious im- 



42 

mortals committed to you had no conscience to con- 
vince and alarm, no heart to affect, no will to move, 
no soul to save ? Is it enough to live and teach so 
as to encourage hope that hereafter some impression 
may be produced, followed by undefined good results ? 
Then, noiv is not God's accepted time to bless the 
young with His salvation! What if some of your 
class should die unconverted through your unfaith- 
fulness? will not God require their blood at your 
hands ? " They are incapable," you think, *' of con- 
version as yet." You cannot be sure of that, and foi? 
you and them it will be far safer to act on the con- 
trary assumption. Have there not been many very 
young disciples of the Saviour — renewed, spiritual, 
exemplary in life, triumphant in death ? Has not 
God said, "They that seek me early shall find me ?" 
and how early they may seek and find Him who can 
determine ? You do not postpone the attainment of 
secular advantages, when they may be secured imme- 
diately. And what finite good can compare to the sal- 
vation of a child, whose future career may be fraught 
with blessing to the church and to the world ? ! 
remember, God has placed these children under your 
care, that you may bring every one of them to Jesus, 
to be embraced in His arms, to be sheltered in His 
fold. With what emotion have some teachers, of the 
right spirit and aim, communicated at the Lord's table 
with every member of their class ! Be prayerfully 
anxious, therefore, and faithfully labour, for the speedy 
conversion of each of yours, and comfort your- 
selves with the hope of participation with them 
in the communion of saints above ! To this end, see 
to it that you yourselves be the subjects of conver- 



43 

sion ; and that, in principle, motive, object, you walk 
worthy of such high vocation. 

The Kev. Andrew Taylor, the apostle, as he was 
called, of the county of Wexford, died in Upper 
Canada, surrounded and revered by his own children 
after the common faith, with their descendants and 
connexions. 



44 



CHAP. II. 

1818-18S3. SKIBBEEEEN. 

During these years Mr. T.'s labours, in the character 
of a local preacher, were properly those of an itine- 
rant ; for, as business and health permitted, after the 
example of his Lord, he went about doing good. At 
this period, he was frequently the subject of disease 
and weakness. His duties on the farm, consequently, 
were often intermitted of necessity; affording him 
opportunity at once for healthful recreation, and for 
saving souls from death. It was good for others, as 
well as for himself, that he was afflicted. Diligent 
in his secular calling when he had strength, of which 
memorials remain to this day, evangelic labour was 
more congenial, as it was that for which he was best 
fitted. The indications of Providence became, by de- 
grees, distinct and imperative. His avocation, as a 
spiritual husbandman, was soon manifest to all; 
for God did abundantly multiply the sower's seed. 
The fields all around were white already to harvest. 

Infirm in health, he visited Dublin in December, 
1818. " Thank God," he writes, " my soul has been 
kept rejoicing, and I trust my coming will be for 
good ; for, after I came in, while waiting on the Lord 
alone, my soul was indeed watered — filled with love. 
O ! the goodness of my God !" An home's interview 
with his saintly Aunt Gill, he felt also to be a season 
of refreshing to him, as it was to her. Kecovering 



45 

from illness, she was, he believed, an *' infinite gainer" 
by the affliction. To lose the benefit of an affliction 
is an eternal loss. Profit by affliction exceeds all 
earthly gain. "It is better," says one, " to have an 
affliction sanctified than to have it removed ;" and 
yet, how few there are who would not desire the re- 
moval of affliction in preference to its sanctification ! 

In answer to maternal enquiry as to how his soul 
prospered, the reply was — " Hanging on, and rejoic- 
ing in, Jesus. I was exceedingly happy with my 
Aunt Gill to-day. ! how near the time seemed 
when we should be all at home I Siu-ely religion is 
worth living for, and Heaven, or rather Cheist, is 
worth dying for ! I feel my mind far above everything 
beneath ; yet, accusing myself every hour. I do no- 
thing — I do not live one moment, as I ought ; but God 
is love." This letter he concludes : " I am, my dear 
mother, yours, in double bonds, F. T." 

That evening, despite of earnest reasoning and re- 
monstrance on his part, he had to preach in Gravel- 
walk Chapel. The Word was with heavenly unction 
and power. An aged woman waited on him after sermon 
to say she had been seeking the Saviour for four years, 
but had now found him. He ministered also in the 
other large chapels — in Whitefriar Street, at half-past 
six in the morning. In these exercises he could say, 
'' My loving Lord gives me moments of refreshing, 
coming from his presence. I do rest in him. ! 
what blessed service ! O ! what sweet employment! 
Glory to my God!" 

In apostolic times, in the days of Whitefield and 
the Wesleys, the Gospel preached was the power of 
God unto salvation. Why? Ministers and people 



^ 



46 



had faith in the saving truth, the Divine energy, of 
the Gospel itself. Conversion under sermons then 
was the rule, not the exception. If in any given case 
it be otherwise now, would it not be the dictate of 
wisdom to ascertain the reason? Is it that the mi- 
nister does not live and pray for it ; that he does not 
'* first steep the seed " in his closet ? Is it that he does 
not aim at immediate conversion in the selection and 
preparation of his subjects? Is it that he does not 
preach, that he does not believe for, such instanta- 
neous effect? Or, is it that the Word preached does 
not profit, not being mixed with faith in them that 
hear it ? If it be want of faith in minister or hearers, 
can such want be explained ? Is it that expectation is 
postponed, faith reserved, for an after or future service ? 
In such case, is not the Divinely instituted ordinance 
of preaching depreciated, and the exercise of a present 
faith for a present salvation necessarily and inju- 
riously hindered ? Subsequent and prolonged devo- 
tional exercises occasionally may, for many reasons, 
be desirable and valuable ; but, if estimated, confided 
in, looked forward to, as the grand instrumentality, 
is not the ministry of reconciliation overlooked, under- 
valued, and, consequently, rendered unsuccessful? 
Would the person have been saved while Mr. Tacka- 
berry preached, as related above, had hope been de- 
ferred until an after prayer meeting ? 

The incessant noise and bustle of Dublin, so different 
from the undisturbed calm of country life, at first 
produced mental dissipation and disquiet. This was 
increased by his physical weakness. In every thing, 
Mr. T.'s custom was to make his requests known to 
God. Asking for grace to stay his mind upon Him, 



47 

so as to be kept in perfect peace, as he walked the 
streets, he obtained in good measure the desired 
power, so that the city turmoil ceased to affect him as 
formerly. The complete self-government acquired in 
this respect was not the effect of tedious self-discipline 
or habit. It was speedily obtained as the result of 
importunate urgency in closet-prayer. '* Thanks to 
my good Lord," is his grateful testimony on this point, 
** I had a meal of prayer and comfort at my favourite 
hour of twelve, and again at five. I did not at all feel 
this time as I used to do in coming to town. I can 
walk through the streets without any distraction of 
mind ; my soul just as happy as if I were in my room. " 
The Eev. John Fletcher's letter on recollection, 
always a great favourite with Mr. T., contains senti- 
ments and recommendations upon which this record 
furnishes an edifying comment : — 

** Eecollection is a dwelling within ourselves ; being 
abstracted from the creature, and turned towards God. 
It is both outward and inward. Outward recollection 
consists in silence from all idle and superfluous words, 
and a wise disentanglement from the world ; keeping 
to oiu- own business, observing and following the 
order of God for ourselves, and shutting the ear 
against all curious and unprofitable matters. Inward 
recollection consists in shutting the door of the senses ; 
in a deep attention to the presence of God, and in 
continual care of entertaining holy thoughts for fear 
of spiritual idleness. Through the power of the 
Spirit let this recollection be steady, even in the 
midst of hurrying business : let it be calm and peace- 
able, and let it be lasting. ' Watch and pray, lest ye 
enter into temptation.' To maintain this recollection, 



48 

beware of entering too deeply, and beyond what is 
necessary, into outward things ; beware of suffering 
your affections to be entangled by worldly vanities ; 
your imagination to amuse itself with unprofitable 
objects ; and of indulging yourself in the commission 
of what are called small faults. For want of continu- 
ing in a recollected frame all the day, our times of 
prayer are frequently dry and useless ; imagination 
prevails, and the heart wanders ; whereas we pass 
easily from recollection to delightful prayer. Without 
this spirit there can be no useful self-denial, nor can 
we know om*selves ; but where it dwells, it makes the 
soul all eye, all ear; traces and discovers sin; repels 
its first assaults, or crushes it in its earliest risings. 
But take care here to be more taken up with thoughts 
of God than of yourself; and consider how hardly re- 
collection is sometimes obtained, and how easily it is 
lost. Use no forced labour to raise a particular 
frame ; nor tire, fret, nor grow impatient, if you have 
no comfort; but meekly acquiesce, confess yourself 
unworthy of it, lie prostrate in humble submission 
before God, and patiently wait for the smiles of Jesus." 
Among the motives to recollection he urges the fol- 
lowing : — " Without it God's voice cannot be heard 
in the soul. It is instrumentally a ladder by which 
to ascend to God. By it the soul gets to its centre, 
out of which it cannot rest. Man's soul is the temple 
of God : recollection is the holy of holies. As the 
wicked by recollection find Hell in their hearts, so 
faithful souls find Heaven. Without recollection, all 
means of grace are useless, or make but a light and 
transitory impression. Dissipated souls are severely 
punished. Kecollection never fails of its reward. 



49 

After patient waiting comes communion with God, 
and the sweet sense of his peace and love. Kecollec- 
tion is a castle, an inviolable fortress against the world 
and the Devil. It renders all times and places alike, 
and it is the habitation where Christ and His bride 
dwell. I give you these hints, not to set Christ aside, 
but that you may, according to the light and power 
give'h you, take these stones, place them upon the 
chief comer stone, and cement them with the blood 
of Jesus, until the superstructm-e, in some measm-e, 
ansv\^ers to the excellence of the foundation." 

Examples of superior gifts, in combination with 
humble and exalted piety, are as refreshing as they 
are rare ; talent being too often esteemed as if it were 
a substitute for grace, both by its possessors and 
admirers. Such estimate in every case is fraught 
with danger. Under date May 20, 1819, Mr. T. 
refers, with gratified feeling, to some profitable inter- 
views he had with Summeefield, a young man of 
extraordinary powers of eloquence — a hurning as well 
as a shining light. " I feel much more union of 
spirit with him," he writes, *' than with any of the 
Dublin preachers. May my God make him very 
useful." 

Mr. T.'s missionaiy spirit w^as stirred within him 
shortly after. Hearing some letters read at a mission- 
ary prayer-meeting, he says, " The falling tear at one 
moment, and the longing ardour at another, evidenced 
to myself that a missionary spark existed in my poor 
heart. Men of God are gone over, others are going, 
and more will go, glory^ to God." Doubtless he 
panted, at the moment, to preach among the Gentiles 
the unsearchable riches of Christ. Possessed of 

F 



50 

« 

strong faith, heavenly-mindedness, and fervent zeal, 
who can doubt his quaUfications even then, did 
health permit, and Providence so direct ? In one of 
his excursions of mercy he thus writes to calm a 
"parent's fears for his health and safety : " ! my dear 
mother, sure the very hairs of my head are all num- 
bered. I have been exceedingly happy since I left 
home. Never did I live more above earth, and 
everything in it, than these few days. Glorious 
Eternity ! I shall inherit a glorious Eternity ! 
God is mine. O! the thought!" Yes, he tasted 
unutterable bliss in the "thought" of his being eter- 
nally an heir of God, who had sent forth his spirit 
into his heart, crying "Abba, Father." 

The filial relation is ever associated with a valid 
title to Heaven. " If a son, then an heir of God 
through Christ." Mr. T. was early made a ]3artaker 
also of the precious faith wiiich purifies the heart, 
works by perfect love to God, fervent charity to man, 
and overcomes the world. He could say, " We speak 
that we do know, and testify that we have seen." 
Hence the clearness and power with which he 
preached and wrote on the subject of Christian holi- 
ness. Kept at this time, by his own testimony, 
" living near eternity," he was saved from all desire 
for Dublin sight-seeing, and this he describes as a 
" great salvation." How much better use did he 
make of his time, the important talent for the im- 
provement of which he felt himself accountable, the 
reader will infer. His own words are: "Yesterday, 
especially, I felt thankful. It was what is called a 
holiday here— the installation of the knights of the 
order of Saint Patrick. The streets, near where they 



51 

passed, were crowded with thousands upon thousands 
of immortal beings, few of whom had any thought of 
God or eternity. I was asked to see the Lord Lieu- 
tenant and gentlemen pass. I did not go. If one 
desire would have taken me, I felt it not. O ! we are 
saved with a great salvation!" Mr. T.'s occasional 
visits to Newcastle, coming to or returning from Dub- 
lin, were eminently ov./ned of God. The joy of the 
people in consequence, when he went there in May, 
1819, was, it might almost be said, excessive. Grate- 
ful mention is made in Scripture of "honourable 
women not a few," and of " holy women of old." 
Among those who thus hailed Mr. T.'s arrival v/as 
Mrs. Leslie, of whom the following glowing picture, 
from his hand, will doubtless be considered a faithful 
likeness by those who knew her : — 

** On Monday, E and I came to precious Mrs. 

Leslie's. I believe we gave her an agreeable surprise. 
Surely our hearts were glad together. ! that is the 
woman of women ! Yesterday morning, after break- 
fast, she asked me to walk out a little, and began 
such a conversation on the deep things of God as I 
have been seldom privileged with. How she did 
make me ashamed when she began to praise the Lord 
for sending me to that neighbourhood, the time Mr. 
Taylor and I went there first — for m.aking me the means 
of goud to her soul ! Surely I would sit at her feet. 
There is very much of Aunt Gill in her conversation. 
Her soul is much farther advanced than when I saw 
her last. I think she walks in the full light of God's 
countenance." 

In the November following, he visited Newcastle 
again. God acknowledged his labours in the conver- 



52 

sion of a Eomanist servant of the family. The people 
whom he visited, from house to house, urged him 
with affectionate importunity to prolong his stay, at 
least for a month, were he to do no more than repeat 
and extend these truly profitable visits r 

Shortly after his arrival in Dublin, he went with a 
friend to Kilmainham jail, anxious to see the criminals 
and direct them to the sinner's friend, especially a 
Captain Gordon, sentenced to death for forgery. When 
the keeper ascertained their object, he promptly and 
kindly admitted them. *' The Captain," says Mr, T., 
" was very glad to see us. We conversed and prayed 
with him and another Protestant man. The Captain 
seemed to feel a good deal. The other appeared quite 
unfeeling. Neither of them seems to have any clear 
view of the plan of salvation. I felt much faith, not- 
withstanding, while praying, and power to plead with 
God for them, especially for the Captain. We would 
gladly have staid longer, but, at four o'clock, the jailer 
told us our time was up. I purpose going earlier to- 
day. I never was in a prison before. It was dismal 
to me, especially the clanking of the criminals' chains 
as they walked, ten of whom are in the jail." 

Christian ! Is not practical pity for all prisoners 
and captives one of the incumbent duties of our be- 
nign religion? It is recognised as such in those 
Scriptural "rules" by which members of the Wesleyan 
Church profess to be governed ; since they are ex- 
pected, in order to continued membership, to do 
good of every possible sort, to all men ; and visiting 
or helping them that are sick or in prison is distinctly 
specified. It is urged by the career of a Howard, 
whose high ambition, whose sublime eulogy, it was 



53 

** to gauge the dimensions of misery, depression, and 
contempt; to remember the forgotten; to attend to 
the neglected ; to visit the forsaken ; and to compare 
and collate the distresses of all men in all countries." 
It is enforced by those precepts of Christianity which 
require us to do good unto all men ; to deny ourselves 
and take up our cross daily that we may follow Christ ; 
and by the solemn sanction of the final judgment. It 
is enjoined by the example of our Divine Kedeemer 
himself, for what is redemption but " by the blood of 
his covenant to send forth the prisoners out of the pit 
wherein there is no water ?" * And what is conversion 
but " to bring those that are in darkness out of the 
prison-house ?" f The obligation is clear and pal- 
pable, but what of its actuating influence ? Who, 
among all who profess and call themselves Christians, 
is faithful in the duty ? It may be said the prison 
regulations at present do not permit the necessary 
access. Chaplains are regularly appointed who are 
jealous of their prerogatives, and will not allow any 
interference with their duties. The ivish of prisoners 
themselves will he respected by the authorities, especially 
if under sentence of death. Your duty is to show the 
condemned culprit the way of salvation, should the 
chaplain be a stranger to vital piety, and ignorant of 
the Gospel plan. Say not the door of access is en- 
tirely shut. Are you sure that you would be denied a 
personal interview ? And, if so, could you not fulfil 
the duty instrumentally, through the services of a mi- 
nister desired and preferred by the criminal ? Or by 
a suitable tract, or an affectionate, instructive, and 

* Zech. ix. 11. f Isaiah xlii. 7. 



54 



1' 



persuasive letter ? Is not the use of the most likely 
means, by which to rescue from perdition this soul for 
whom Christ died, imperatively required of you? 
Can you neglect the use of such means and be guilt- 
less ? And is there not motive sufficiently stirring in 
the declaration, that, if successful, you '' save a soul 
from death, and hide a multitude of sins ?" 

While he sojourned in the city this time also, Mr. 
T. preached in Gravel- walk chapel. His subject was : 
" Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for He shall save 
His people from their sins." Kecording the circum- 
stance, he observes, *' I had much fi-eedom in speak- 
ing. I do delight in holding forth Jesus as a Saviour. 
After sermon, we had a prayer-meeting. One was 
made happy, and several seemed much stirred up. 
To God be all the gioiy. I rode to Kilmainham jail 
at three. The jailer immediately admitted me, although 
alone ; but I did not get to see the criminals. The 
minister was with some, and the priest with others ; 
so, after waiting till four, I came home. I intend 
going to-morrow in the forenoon." 

In January, 1819, he accompanied Mr. Taylor on 
one of his missionary tours. He preached in Arklow 
on the Sunday evening, on 1 Tim. i. 15, to about two 
hundred and fifty hearers. God was with him of a 
truth. One obtained a clear evidence of pardon ; 
several others were deeply convinced of their want of 
it. On the morning of the 18th, Mr. Taylor met 
thiity-three, mostly new, members in class. It was a 
time of power : the unconverted were weeping on 
every hand. A sergeant who had fallen from grace 
had his backslidings healed. " Such a change," ob- 
serves Mr. Tackaberry, " in the countenance of a man 



55 

and in so short a time, I have hardly ever seen." In 
the evening, Mr. Taylor preached on Num. x. 29. 
The invitation '* Come thou with us, and we will do 
thee good," was not urged in vain. Forty- tw^o persons 
joined the society on trial ! A strange incident served 
to increase Mr. Tackaberry's faith for the success of 
their labours. While about to step into the gig, word 
came that the horse had fallen dovvn dead. They 
got him unyoked with difficulty, and found he had 
received no material injury. The man who was mind- 
ing him described it as the result of fright from the 
throw of a stone. Mr. Tackaberry's reflections w^ere : 
*' I verily believe the enemy had a great hand in this. 
He thought to have turned us home ; but he was mis- 
taken. The gig is repairing. Mr. T. purposes to 
bring it out to-moiTow, and meet me in Wicklow next 
day. He does not know ivlien ive may he in Dublin. 
Thank God, my soul is kept happy, and more recol- 
lected than usual. If you w^ere to travel a week wdth 
a preacher, you would wonder how they are w^hat they 
are. It is easv to be a Christian at home, with 
mamma and the little room." 

The events of the same tour he describes more 
minutely to another friend : " Monday, assisted Mr. 
Taylor in meeting new members who had joined, or 
were about to join, the society. We had an extraor- 
dinary time. Two persons were made happy ; and 
almost every one present was bathed in tears. In the 
evening, Mr. Taylor preached a brave sermon. When 
he dismissed the people they did not go, and he began 
again. The house was so throng, I had to stand on 
a form while praying, otherwise I could not have kept 
my feet. There were added to the society that day 



56 



1 



forty-two persons. Tuesday, went to Newtown, and 
spoke from Heb. ii. 3; I find since, not altogether in 
vain. Thursday, back to Wicklow to meet Mr. Tay- 
lor. Spoke from Rev. iii. 20," — a favourite text, from 
which he often preached wdth persuasive power. 
" Friday, held a children's meeting at ten. Was very 
happy through the day. Said to Mr. Taylor, before 
meeting, I w^as nearly as happy as I could bear. I 
believe he answered it was a good sign. Mr. Taylor 
preached a good sermon on Acts iii. 19. At class- 
meeting the shower came down. Six persons were 
made happy ; three of them had been backsliders. It 
was one of the most powerful seasons I ever witnessed. 
Nothing like driving ; the Lord seemed to take all 
out of our hands and work himself. Saturday, Mr. 
Taylor and I were sent for to see a person in distress. 
We went, found Mrs. S., wife to a good man, on the 
brink of despair. We went to prayer, and the God of 
Elijah answered by fire. Her joyv/as as transporting 
as her w^retchedness previously was extreme. We came 
with light hearts to Newcastle. Mr. Taylor preached 
on Sunday morning, and joined nine persons in a 
class. I forgot to mention that eighteen persons 
joined the society in Arklow, after I left it, making 
sixty in all." The men of God, no doubt, regarded 
what happened to the horse and gig as providential, 
Mr. Taylor's detention having been the means of 
adding these other eighteen to the society, and re- 
joiced that " the enemy" thus overshot his mark. 
Composed, recollected, happy, to use his own words, 
Mr. Tackaberry finished this missionary excursion, 
triumphing in Christ, who had made manifest the 
Saviom* of his knowledge by him in every place. 



57 

Arklow is a village on the sea-coast, inhabited 
chiefly by fishermen. " No small stir" was made about 
this " way" by the scenes above described. Another 
missionary, who still lives, followed some time after, 
and preached on the sandy beach to an immense 
multitude. Fish had been scarce for some time, and 
the missionary, knowing the consequent destitution of 
many families, prayed with importunate earnestness, 
that God, in his merciful providence, would be pleased 
to send a supply speedily into the bay. He had 
learned from his Bible that it was the privilege of 
Christians to make their requests known to God in 
EVEEY THING. The noxt morning before he rose, a 
man, more earnest and grateful in feeling, than gram- 
matically correct in language, knocked at his bed-room 
door, exclaiming: "The herrings is come! The 
herrings is come !" The fact was so ; and to this day 
it is remembered gratefully by the villagers as a most 
remarkable and seasonable answer to prayer. 

The following year, Mr. Tackaberry took another 
missionary journey in company with his friend, Mr. 
Taylor. They visited several new places with some 
encouragement ; but, having many inconveniencies to 
endure, this drew forth the significant observation 
from the subject of our narrative : — " I have a strange 
mind. When I am at home, I think I ought to go 
often abroad, and am ready to conclude that I should 
do more good from home. When I am abroad, I 
think every day a week till I get home again. ! 
my God, help me to live and act for thee at home 

and abroad. While I am in or in it is 

easy for me to watch, but goodness help the poor 
preachers, it is hard for them to be holy." 



58 

Matured " charity beareth all things, and never 
faileth." The description given by our Lord of 
Christian perfection is eminently practical. According 
to His definition, it does not consist merely in the 
attainment of privilege, and in consequent high spi- 
ritual enjoyment, but, as one universal feature, in the 
meek endurance of injuries, and in a forbearing and 
forgiving carriage towards enemies. ^'' Love your 
enemies," said the teacher sent from God, not indeed 
v^itli a complacent regard, as if we approved of their 
conduct, but with a love of benevolence — a love that 
works no ill to them, but wishes them well, while we 
pity their madness and folly. *' Bless them that curse 
you " — speak well of them, so far as you may have it 
in your power, and speak civilly to them, if thrown 
into their society. When God blesses us He does 
good to us. When ^Ye bless God we speak good of 
Him. To bless them that curse us is to unite the 
two ; to do them service as well as utter kind words 
to and concerning them. Children usually resemble 
their parents. Take this course if you would de- 
monstrate that you are the children of your Father 
which is in Heaven ; that you possess his nature ; 
that you bear his image. For he loves his enemies ; 
he makes his sun to shine, he sends his rain on them^ 
** Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which 
is in Heaven is perfect." How important that minis- 
ters, especially, who are expected, not merely to re- 
commend from the pulpt, but to exemplify in their lives, 
the religion of the Gospel, should themselves be the 
subjects of this great salvation ! Mr. Tackaberry thus 
notices, with warm expressions of commendation, an 
example of this true perfection : " On Saturday last 



69 

I met my dear old Mr. Graham, (the missionary) at 
Gorey-well, and in his right mind — ^^^es, in his right, 

right mind. After I gave him 's letter, he talked 

very sweetly to me on that unpleasant subject. Among 
other things, he said, ' I forgive him and every man 

alive.' And again, ' After all did, I could tell 

him of a place I heard of, that perhaps would answer 
him.'" 

In January, 1822, Mr. T. again visited Dublin. In 
his correspondence with home he speaks of having 
had, one day especially, intimately near " access to 
the throne of God, and the heart of Jesus." " Surely," 
he exclaims, " It is sw^eet to dwell with Jesus ! ! 
the nearness of that hour when I shall see Him as He 
is ! We lose much for want of momentary faith. 
Believe and receive is the imy.'" 

It is the way — the w^ay of holiness, of progress 
of pure enjoyment—the way to Heaven on earth; 
but few there be that find it. One would suppose, 
from the practice of some Christians, that self-reflec- 
tion, self-reproach, self-condemnation, self- complaint, 
is '* the way." Scripture and experience teach that 
endlessly to pore our defective and unworthy self, is 
neither the way to honour God, to profit ourselves, 
or others. The race which the Apostle, Heb. xii. 1, 
counsels us to run is one of personal and relative 
duty. With w^hat wisdom and propriety does he ex- 
hort us to keep looking to Jesus for that purpose ! 
Whoever made progress, so as to excel in know- 
ledge, piety, or usefulness otherwise ? Whoever so 
ran as to obtain the prize by a contrary method? 
The phrase, " looking to Jesus," Dr. Macknight 
translates " looking of to Jesus," clearly implying 



60 



that the mind is not to dwell on those things cal- 
culated to clog, hinder, or discourage in running 
the Heavenly race. If I am unworthy, Jesus is 
worthy to receive all I want. He merits the hlessing 
for me, which I do not deserve for myself. If I am 
ignorant, in Him dwells all the treasures of wisdom 
and knowledge, and all for me. If I am weak, weaker 
than a bruised reed, He is Almighty to save : 

" Stronger than all the powers of Hell, 
And greater than my heart." 

He, therefore, is able to keep me from falling, and to 
present me faultless before the presence of His glory, 
with exceeding joy. Thus "momentary faith" finds 
a supply in Christ for personal deficiency, no matter 
how varied or depressing. 

God was now eminently preparing Mr. T. for the 
service of the sanctuary. Holiness to the Lord was 
inscribed upon persons and things devoted to the pur- 
poses of the tabernacle and temple ; and in the Gospel 
dispensation, only "sanctified" vessels are "meet for 
the master's use."-'^ From Enniscorthy Mr. T. writes 
May 1, 1822 : " I feel determined to live and preach as 
I have never done yet. I have at times moments of 
communion with God that are worth the world. Since 
I left home I have been living in the world almost as 
if I were out of it. ! the state that I see to be my 
privilege ! Surely the Lord teaches me much by His 
Spirit." He did not aspire to that state in vain. Two 
days after he writes : "I had a very agreeable time in 
Enniscorthy — ^large congregations, and some freedom 
in speaking to them. I had access to Miss E— — 

* 2 Tim. ii. 21. 



61 

every day. Her friends were very glad that I should 
go ; but health is the time to get good. I never felt 
much more interest for a soul, I thought, than for 
her's. My very heart seemed to go out in prayer that 
God might visit and bless her. O ! may I be as 
earnest with people in liealth from this forward ! I 
left the house and town, determined to live and preach 
more for eternity." He went thence to Wexford, 
where he preached to a goodly number, including 
some persons of note, not with much freedom, but, of 
set purpose, with great plainness of speech. He con- 
tinues : ** I have been this morning pleading with the 
Lord for more of everything that will make me like 
himself Especially I feel my heart go out this day 
in desire for more communion with Him, for a greater 
and more constant sense of His presence. ! the 
way I have been living ! Lord help me. Eternity is 
at the door — at the very door ! Everything seems 
little, but as it refers to Eternity. I feel my heart 
saying this day what shall I do, that I may live rightly 
for God and Eternity ?" 

At the district meeting he was elected as represen- 
tative to the Chapel-Fund Committee. The follow- 
ing is his journal-letter, describing his preparation, 
journey, and visit to Dublin on the occasion : " I begin 
by observing that the Sabbath before I left home, 
while you and the family were at class-meeting, I was 
endeavouring to examine myself, and to renew my 
covenant with the Lord — to be wholly His for time and 
for Eternity. Thank God, a measure of the sweetness 
of that morning has continued with me since. Mon- 
day evening late, I got to Mr. Pierce's, and felt much 
comfort in prayer with the family before I went to 

a 



62 

rest. Tuesday after the rain, Mr. Graham and I set 
out, had much profitable conversation, and were at 
Newcastle just as Mr. Carson was giving out the second 
hymn. I had to preach with about two minutes' 
warning; was much straitened, but the people pro- 
fessed to have received much good, and that fully 
satisfied my soul. Thursday, sat with the Building 
and Chapel-Fund Committee from half-past ten til 
just four o'clock. I believe much good will accrue to 
Methodism in Ireland from that fund. At four dined 
at uncle Eades's. I will endeavour to give you a short 
description of the company, conversation, &c. We 
had Mr. Marsden, the president, — an uncommonly 
sweet man, about forty-five in appearance. In his 
character there seems to be a mixture of gentleness, 
weightiness, coolness, and strong sense. I think him 
a gTeat good man. Next, Mr. Newton — his counte- 
nance expressive of sharpness, penetration, and deep 
thought. We had also Mr. Tobias, Mr. Smith, Mr. 
Deery, Mr. Kyle, and Mr. Noble, Irish preachers. 
Much useful conversation was carried on, and many 
instiTictive anecdotes related concerning the work 
and servants of God. 

" At seven I went to hear the great Mr. Newton 
preach. Preach he did with a witness ! He is 
reckoned the second greatest preacher among the 
Methodists ; but if there be a gi'eater, it is indeed a 
wonder. He spoke for an hour and three minutes on 
Phil. iii. 8, first half of the verse. Surely such a 
sermon I never heard before ! The vast crowded con- 
gregation seemed as if nailed to their seats ; hardly 
a cough or breath through the house ; and not a few 
falling teai's witnessed that they felt as well as ad- 



63 

mired. Thank God for such men. This day is ob- 
served as a day of fasting and prayer. The prayer- 
meeting at six this morning was well attended. The 
president opened it, and Messrs. Wood, Mayne and 
Newton prayed. It was a time of power. It is just 
now twelve, when the next prayer-meeting will begin. 
May God bless us." 

At this Conference, having been previously examined 
and approved by the Waterford district, upon the re- 
commendation of the Eev. Eobert Banks, his superin- 
tendent, who still lives beloved and venerated by all 
who know him, Mr. Tackaberry w^as accepted on 
trial, as a candidate for the Wesleyan ministry, and 
placed upon the list of reserve. The testimony in 
question was alike honourable to both the parties. 
The following is a copy : "I recommend Fossey 
Tackaberiy, of the Newtownbany Circuit, aged 
twenty-five years, most cordially, as a young man of 
piety, talent, usefulness, and good health ; and hope 
he will prove a blessing to Methodism. 

'* July 6, 1822. K. Banks." 

A service called the Preachers' Love-feast was at 
that time a usual appendage to the Irish Conference. 
This year it was memorable, and is thus described by 
Mr. T. : " On Thursday I was at the Preachers' Love- 
feast. No person spoke but travelling preachers. It 
was a time of the greatest power I ever experienced. 
Several present said they never felt so much of the 
power of God before. The Lord is evidently reviving 
His work in the hearts of the^ preachers ; and it seemed 
that night as if He was about to revive it through the 
kingdom generally. 0! the faith that seemed to be 
in that meeting! Several of the preachers gave 



64 

cheering accounts of revivals on their circuits in the 
past year. I think I shall never forget that night. 
Yesterday the two blessed Englishmen sailed, with the 
heartiest prayers and blessings of the preachers and 
of the Dublin society." 

Mr. T. was sent, as one of the young men on the 
list of reserve, to the Drogheda Circuit, to supply 
the place of the Kev. William Stewart during his 
absence at the English Conference. The Eev. John 
Eogers, Mr. Stewart's colleague, hearing that others 
were applied to, was anxious that Mr. T. should be 
the person, saying he would take no one else but his 
countryman. It was a trial to go to Drogheda with- 
out seeing home. The love of Christ constrained 
him. " I hope," he observes, " to see good before I 
return. My soul feels a foretaste of it." 

The Kev. Samuel Kyle having been incapacitated 
for the work of his circuit (Skibbereen), by an occur- 
rence which well nigh cost him his life, Mr. Tackaberry 
was dispatched to his assistance in the following 
December. A journey of one hundred and seventy- 
four miles on horseback, made in safety, through 
strange and disturbed parts of the country, sensibly 
affected his tender spirit, and excited the liveliest 
emotions of gratitude to his Divine preserver. Among 
the most amiable characteristics of this good man 
were a mind ever quick to discern, a heart prompt to 
appreciate and adore God for, mercies received. To 
forget Divine benefits could never be reckoned among 
Mr. T.'s failings. This " comely" feature will often 
appear with impressive and edifying distinctness in 
these pages. Even minor and common, — what he used 
to term " every-day mercies,"- were the subjects of 



65 

devout and continual recognition and acknowledg- 
ment. Hence he found matter for joy and praise, on 
his arrival at Skibbereen, '*that no son of man had 
lifted up his voice against him" during the journey ; 
** that he had never gone a quarter of a mile astray ; 
that his mare had never made a start or stumble." 
At Kilkenny, Mrs. B., the missionary's wife, could 
scarcely have treated a son with greater kindness. 
She gave him to understand, however, that he was to 
eat no idle bread ; and had a congregation assembled 
the evening of his arrival, to whom he spoke with, 
much freedom. At Clonmel, Mrs. Kussel gave him^ 
some advices, "which," he emphatically^remarks, -*• I 
will be apt to remember." Winding his way through 
tlie great and dreary mountains of the counties of 
Tipperary and Cork, he passed by the place where 
the family of the Sheas were maliciously burned ; a 
circumstance exciting thankfulness, subsequeiitly, for 
his ow^n safety. At Fermoy, he " met with a prodigy 
indeed, — the head surgeon of the 26th Eegiment of 
Foot, rightly converted," who assisted in the Methodist 
meetings. *'At first," says Mr. T., *^'l wished to 
avoid him, plain persons generally suiting me best; 
but, after one conversation, I shunned him no more. 
A simpler, plainer, sweeter man I have not seen since 
I left home than Dr. Coldstream. He told me all 
about his conversion, which took place at Gibraltar, 
before he became acquainted with the Methodists." 

At Bandon, Mr. received him as an angel of 

God. *' His kindness," he records, ** I think I shall 
not forget for twenty years at least. These things are 
peculiarly grateful after parting with such a mother, 
family and friends as I have left. He would not let me 



6Q 

leave Bandon on Thursday, and I earned the privilege 
of my stay by having to preach in their great house 
in the evening." Next day he set out for Skib- 
bereen, passing through Clonakilty, " which," he ob- 
serves, " somewhat resembles Arklow, and is memo- 
rable to me by being the birth-place of Thomas 
Walsh." And then he prays : *' 1 may I be like 
him!" It was market-day in Skibbereen, and Irish 
being a scarce commodity in his native place, it was 
passing strange to him that he did not hear a word of 
English spoken during his whole progress through the 
crowded streets. Keferring to the kind reception re- 
ceived from Mr. Swanton, and dwelling with en- 
couragement on the refreshing sense of the Divine 
presence enjoyed by the way, and on the tokens for 
good vouchsafed to him at Fermoy, especially in pri- 
vate, he fervently prays : " O ! may my God be with 
me here, and help me to be wholly His !" The first 
day he laboured in the towTi afforded ground for 
hopeful anticipations : "I have now spent a Sabbath 
among this people. There are some precious souls 
here. I had much freedom in speaking to them. 
God was with us. I trust my dear mother will not 
fret, and I will not. When my mind gets depressed 
I go to prayer, and am lightened. I am the Lord's : 
His place is my place. I hope to see good times by 
and by, and this will make up every loss to me." 

Vigorously resolved on mental and theological im- 
provement from the outset, he adds, in a postscript : 
** I could not at all think of doing without my books ;" 
and then he names the following, — no ill selected library 
for a young itinerant, — to be forwarded to him with all 
convenient speed : " Dr. Clarke on the New Testa- 



67 

ment, with the Index ; Cruden's Concordance ; Latin 
and Greek Testaments and Lexicons ; Walker's Dic- 
tionary; Dr. Clarke's Letter to a Young Preacher, 
and Bickerste til's Scripture Help." 

The facts related of the military officer whom Mr. 
T. met at Fermoy suggest reflections and inquiries 
in reference to the vitally religious interests of British 
soldiers. Dr. Coldstream was a converted man. Mr. 
T. found him consequently an affable, open, simple 
Christian, willing to receive and communicate in con- 
versation upon Divine things. Such are the results of 
true conversion. He assisted, moreover, in conducting 
meetings among the Methodists,— a proof that the 
pride of nature and of rank washumbled; were it not so, 
every feeling of his heart would have revolted against 
association with a people almost everywhere spoken 
against among the circle in which he moved. The 
number of devout soldiers is lamentably fevv^. It 
might, and it ought to be otherwise. Methodists, who 
profess to long and labour for the conversion of sin- 
ners, ought to remember that every facility is now 
afforded for soldiers, desiring liberty of worship at 
noon or forenoon of the Sabbath in the Wesleyan 
chapel, to enjoy that liberty. The minister of the 
chajpel, however, must seek the privilege for them, 
ify through fear or shame, they hesitate to claim it 
for themselves. By the regulations of the army, the 
right of worship, according to his conscience, is now 
accorded to every British soldier. In March last, 
(1852) being then stationed in Dublin, I made appli- 
cation to the commander, H.E.H. the Duke of Cam- 
bridge, that the men of that garrison, preferring to 
worship in our chapels, might have such permission. 



68 

The application was courteously granted. Comman- 
ders of regiments were directed '* to afford every 
reasonable facility for the soldiers of their respective 
regiments belonging to the Wesley an persuasion to 
attend Divine service in their own places of worship, 
under all circumstances ; the men to be marched, if 
the number did not exceed 6, by a corporal ; if over 6 
and under 20, by a sergeant, if above SO, by a captain 
or other officer. The men of this persuasion at 
Koyal Barracks, Linen Hall, and Eichmond, to be 
marched to Hendrick Street Cliapel ; those at Aid- 
borough House, to Lower Abbey Street ; those at Ship 
Street and Portobello, to Stephen's Green South ; and 
those at Pigeon House and Beggar's Bush, to Ring- 
end." The order was immediately acted on at Hen- 
drick Street, to which chapel about seventy men from 
different regiments were marched the following Sab- 
bath at nuon. The history of Methodism and of 
Methodist missions shows how highly important it is 
to seek the spiritual good of this class of the com- 
munity. The preaching of Captain Webb largely con- 
tributed to the extension and consolidation of the first 
society in America, subsequently organised into the 
'' Methodist Episcopal Church." He, with the assis- 
tance of his friends, erected a chapel at New York, in 
the year 1768, the first chapel belonging to the Metho- 
dists in that country;^' and although it is not yet 
one hundred years since, it has been ascertained 
that the Church now embraces more than a million 
members, with four times that number of hearers — 
so mightily has the Word of God grown and prevailed. 
The Gibraltar mission, established by means of some 

♦ Myles's Chronology, p. 122. 



I 



69 



pious soldiers converted to God in the old Gravel 
Walk Chapel in Dublin, is another instance. A society 
of 50 members having been formed on the Kock, and 
who walked according to the "Kules," application was 
made to the English Conference that a preacher might 
be sent to them.* A mission was commenced there 
in 1808. Captain Tripp, of the 26th Eegiment, w^ho 
left by will £50 to the Missionary Society, and £600 
to liquidate the debt on the chapel, was one of the 
fruits of this mission.f Dr. Baird, of America, who 
visited Gibraltar early in 1847, records: *'I never 
had my heart so touched in all my life as, when stay- 
ing at Gibraltar, I attended a service of 140 boys and 
youths connected with the Wesleyan school, to whom 
a young man was preaching in Spanish. "| And the 
person who formed the first Methodist class in Hong 
Kong, and may therefore be regarded as the founder 
of our Mission in China, was Sergeant Eoss, of the 
59 th Eegiment. § 

* Myles's Chronology, p. 251. 

f Williams's Missionary Gazetteer, p. 246. 

j Year-Book of Missions, p. 378. 

§ Quarter-Master M'Bride, now of the 39th Eegiment, and 
one of our leaders when quartered recently in Dublin, informs 
me that this same Sergeant Eoss, who served with him formerly 
in the 59th Eegiment, and was one of his class-mates, was horn 
in the town of Longford, in Ireland; that he was remarkable 
for Scripture knowledge when a child ; that he was a man of 
good understanding, and of considerable reasoning power ; that 
he was distinguished for a high sense of truth and moral prin- 
ciple; that he joined the Methodist Society in his native town 
of Longford ; afterwards gave evidence of having passed from 
death unto life ; and that he obtained much spiritual good in a 
revival which took place m the Island of Jersey, previously to 
his embarkation for Hong Kong. Thus the Wesleyan Mission 
recently commenced in the Empire of China is another direct 
fruit of Irish Methodism. 



70 

The wild and bleak scenery of the Skibbereen cir- 
cuit did not favourably impress Mr. T.'s mind, mid- 
winter as it now was ; although he anticipated it would 
be pleasant for the same reason in summer. Among 
the people, he felt at home and hajjpy; and " uncom- 
mon liberty" in preaching almost in ever}^ place. His 
whole soul was drawn out in prayer that Gt)d would 
revive His work among the classes. He resolved to 
*'live in the enjoyment of purity of heart, to preach 
it, to talk of it, and to enforce it in every place." Wise 
and noble resolution ! The holy God, viewing His 
own image with complacency in His devoted servant, 
ever delighted to honour His ministry, and thus 
always caused him to triumph in Christ. 

On this circuit he had from 60 to 80 miles of very 
bad roads to ride, 22 sermons to preach, and 14 or 16 
classes to meet every fortnight. " This," he con- 
sidered, " to a heart full of love, to a man full of 
strength, was delightful work." If, with sufficient 
physical strength, such work be ever felt a drudgery by 
those otherwise fitted for it, w^ould not the remedy for 
the morbid feeling be found in '' a heart full of loveT 

Mr. T.'s account of the occuiTence which laid Mr. 
Kyle aside for a season, supplies matter for profitable 
reflection on the sleepless solicitude with which God, 
in His merciful providence, 

" Watches every numbered hair, 
And every step attends," 
of His ministering servants. The circumstance was 
as follows : ^' At Mr. G.'s, where I now stop, the 
stable adjoining the Tan-yard, and something having 
provoked the dogs, they set on Mr. Kyle's mare, and 
tore her a good deal before help came. Mr. Kvle had 



71 

then to borrow a horse to travel his circuit ; and this 
horse becoming uneasy going down a hill, continued 
to go back until his hinder feet went into a deep 
dyke, when, plunging to recover himself, Mr. Kyle 
was thrown off into the ditch, the horse falling on 
him. He know^s not whether it was his own fall, or 
the fall of the horse upon him, that dislocated his hip. 
I was showed the spot wdiere he fell. I did not see 
so deep a dyke the whole round of the circuit. It is 
more than six feet perpendicular. Mr. Kyle is the 
greatest pattern of resignation and meekness under 
affliction that I have seen. He is a father whom I 
shall feel pleasure in serving as a son in the Gospel." 
Mr. T. adds pleasantly, in a postscript: "The peo- 
ple in this town are as affectionate, for the length of 
acquaintance, as any I have ever known. They 
tell me I must not leave them next Conference ; 
that they will not take half-year's preachers. You 
may show this letter to Mr. Graham and Mr. Waugh^ 

if you desire ; but Mr. C has laid by the boy too 

many years ago to see one of my boyish letters. He 
does not allow" young preachers to talk about their 
mothers." 

His resolution to enjoy and urge the attainment of 
purity of heart was no idle purpose. " I find," he 
says, in a communication to a friend, shortly after, 
*' little hungering and thirsting after holiness on this 
circuit. I have been enforcing conformity to the will 
and image of God nearly all round the cncuit, I hope 
not in vain. I do not know one who has a clear 
witness of sanctification. And ivhere sanctification is 
low in an individual, a society, or a circuit, all is low in 
proportion. My own soul never was happier. I am 



7a 

living, and determined to live, wholly for God. ! 
the happiness of even striving to do this ! I am en- 
abled to rise at ^ye in general, nor do I find it so 
difficult to retire in time, as I was led to expect it 
would." 

To the depth and fervour of his piety may be traced 
the cheerfulness with which he submitted to endur- 
ances in the prosecution of his beloved w^ork, which 
could not here be minutely detailed. An idea may 
be formed of some of them from the following extract : 
*' I believe the directions you gave me concerning the 
grey mare cannot be attended to. I would not find a 
horse of the description you mention in all this end 
of the county Cork. Such a wretched breed I never 
saw ; few of them are larger than mules. Besides, I 
do think the grey would answer me much better, 
should I be travelling here, than a young one. In 
the first place, a young one from another county would 
never be got to clamber over the rocks ; secondly, 
would not be able to live as well on the coarse pro- 
vender as a seasoned one ; and thirdly, would nf)t do 
near as well in the kitchen among women, children, 
&c., as grey does !" 

** Where sanctification is low in an individual, a 
society, or a circuit, all is low in proportion." With 
Mr. T. this was a cardinal principle — it had all the 
force of an axiom. The sentiment was truly W"esleyan 
and not less Scriptural. " Where Christian perfec- 
tion is not strongly and explicitly preached," says the 
Eev. John Wesley, " there is seldom -any remarkable 
blessing from God, and, consequently, little addition 
to the society and little life in the members of it. 
Therefore, if Jacob Eowell is grown faint, and says 



73 

but little about it, do you supply his lack of service. 
Speak and spare not. Let not regard for any man 
induce you to betray the truth of God Till you press 
the believers to expect full salvation now, you must not 
look for any revival.""^ Again: '* There is an amaz- 
ing increase of the work of God within these few 
months in the North of Ireland. And no wonder ; 
for the five preachers who have laboured there are all 
men devoted to God ; me7i of single eye, whose whole 
heart is in the work, and who 

^ Constantly trample on pleasure and pain."f 

Again: '' I am glad Eichard Taylor is of use. He 
will be more and more so, if he continues simple of 
heart, and speaks explicitly of full redemption, and 
exhorts beUevers to accept it ')ww ! The same rule it 
will be well for you to observe in conversation with all 
that are in earnest." J Again : '* That point, entire 
salvation from inbred sin, can hardly ever be insisted 
upon, either in preaching or prayer, without a particular 
blessing. Honest Isaac Brown firmly believes this 
doctrine, that we are to be saved from all sin in this 
life. But I wish, when opportunity serves, you would 
encourage him, 1. To preach Christian perfection 
constantly, strongly, and explicitly. 2. To assert and 
prove that it may be received now. And, 3, Which 
indeed is implied therein, that it is to be received by 
simple faith. "§ 

Once more : " In the success of Mr. Leech's preach- 
ing, we have one proof of a thousand, that the bless- 

^ Works, vol. 12, p. 254. f Ibid, p. 338. + Ibid, p. 387. 
§ Works, vol. 13, p. 49. 



74 

ing of God always attends the publishing of full 
salvation as attainable now, by faith.* 

The state of the Corinthian Church \vas " low." As 
the proof of this they were torn by internal strife and 
division. This was the occasion of much grief and 
pain to the Apostle Paul, and drew forth from him 
frequent and bitter complaints. '' For it hath been 
declared unto me of you, my bretliren, by them which, 
are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions 
among you.f " There are among you en\7ing, strife, 
and divisions" — factions, parties. $ And as the neces- 
sary and unavoidable fruit of such schism, they 
had acquired a bad notoriety for " debates, wraths, 
strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults ;" 
sufficient cause to ''humble" the Apostle w^hen he 
should next visit them.§ One subject of their con- 
tentions and debates was the gifts of ministers. Some 
were depreciated ; others idolized ; not because of 
the inferiority of the former or the superiority of the 
latter in grace or usefulness, but in gifts. One said 
" I am of Paul, another I of ApoUos, another I of 
Cephas." They reflected censoriously on those whom 
they considered deficient in natural endowments, as 
if such deficiency were their fault. St. Paul shows 
that variety of talent in the ministers of Christ was 
a Divine arrangement. "If the whole body were 
an eye, where were the hearing ? If the whole were 
hearing, where were the smelling ? And the eye can- 
not say to the hand I have no need of thee, nor again 
the head to the feet I have no need of you.|| " There 
are diversities of gifts," he says again, "but the same 

* Works, vol. 13, p. 65. f- 1 Cor. i. 11. + 1 Cor. iii. 3. 
§ 2 Cor. xii. 20, 21. || 1 Cor. xii. 17, 21. 



75 

Spirit; and there are differences of administrations, 
but the same Lord ; and there are diversities of ope- 
rations, but the same God which worketh all in all."* 
Why all their angry collisions of opinion and feeling 
in their strifes and debates on this subject? Why all 
this favouritism, this disparagement of ministers less 
gifted than others, but equally necessary to the health 
and energy of the body? Their personal sanctiftcation 
was low. 

There was much immorality among them, render- 
ing the exercise of penal discipline painfully necessary. 
Gluttony, drunkenness, impious disregard of the 
nature and design of the Lord's Supper, and other 
crimes, not so much as named among the Gentiles, 
were practised and tolerated among them. So lax 
was their administration of discipline, that the Apostle 
had at last to command them to put away the wicked 
person. Why all this laxity of morals and of discipline ? 
Their personal sanctification was low. 

They incurred the sharp censures, the pungent re- 
proofs, of the Apostle, for their intimacies and asso- 
ciations with the Heathen, *• What fellowship hath 
righteousness with unrighteousness ? And what 
communion hath light with darkness? And what 
concord hath Christ with Belial ? Or what part hath 
he that believeth with an infidel ? Wherefore, come 
out from among them and be separate ?" Why this 
unnatural and dangerous communion — this friendship 
with the world, which is enmity against God? Their 
perso7ial sanctification was low. 

They listened to, and then circulated, calumnies 
injurious to the character and usefulness of St. Paul 
* 1 Cor. xii. 5-7. 



76 

—the chief of those ministers by whom they believed. 
So far did they forget their obligations to him that 
they spoke contemptuously of his personal appeai^ance 
and his preaching; impugning his motives, and em- 
ploying the most unworthy means to invalidate hig 
claims to the Apostleship. Why this ingratitude and 
baseness ? Their personal sanctification was low. 

Although affluent — abounding '-in every thing" — 
they were reluctant to perform deeds of benevolence 
and mercy, intreated as they were by the Apostle to 
help the poor saints in Judea, while the churches of 
Macedonia, — those of Phillippi, Berea^ and Thessalo- 
nica, — notwithstanding their deep poverty, were 
willing of themselves, and contributed even beyond 
their power. Instead of coming forward spontaneously 
in this extremity, with generous heart and open hand^ 
the Apostle had to give ''order" and direction to them 
for this pui3)ose, and even to employ Titus to solicit 
them. By him it was "begun," but after a whole 
"year" it was unfinished. Why this miserly spirit? 
And why their dishonesty, too, in defrauding their 
ministers of their " wages " ? -^^ Their personal sanctifi- 
eation was low. " For whereas," says the Apostle, 
" there is among you envying and strife and divisions, 
are ye not carnal and walk as men" — meaning are ye 
not in great part carnal, and walk as unrenewed men?t 

Mr. Tackaberry was soon cheered by positive 
tokens of prosperty on the Skibbereen Circuit. Seve- 
ral persons were added to the society ; the society itself 
was generally quickened; and there were some de- 
cided instances of conversion. 

* 1 Cor. ix. + 1 Cor, iii. 3 



CHAP, III. 

1823-1826.— MOUNTEATH. 

** Many a preacher," says Eicharcl Baxter, " is now in 
Hell, that hath an hundred times called upon his 
hearers to use the utmost care and diligence to escape 
it." To have to do professionally with sacred things 
enhances and aggravates a minister's condemnation, 
unless h^Q he personally the suhject of religion in its 
experimental and practical power. It would not suf- 
fice for Timothy to be careful as to the " doctrine " 
he taught — he must take heed to himself.'- Or 
to urge the Church to purity of heart and life -he 
must keep himself pure.f Or for the Ephesian Elders 
to exercise vigilant care over all the flock committed 
to them — they must take heed to themselves. I Such 
personal cai'e is essential not only to the pastoral care, 
but to their personal salvation: " In doing this" — 
takino' heed to thvself as well as to the doctrine — 
"thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear 
thee.*'§ If ministers are not even superior to their 
people in holiness, in what sense can they be an ex- 
ample to the believers ? How can they say, *' Be ye 
followers of me," unless they can add, " As I also am 
of Christ ?" How suitable, therefore, how" necessary, 

* 1 Tim. iv. 16. i- 1 Tim. v. 22. + Acts xx. 28. § 1 Tim. iv. 16. 



78 

how important the prayer— -as the Church and 
themselves are concerned : — 

" Fully in my life express 
i^ll the heights of holiness !" 

Is it not impossible that other^dse they can have pure 
enjoyment in the study of their heavenly themes, in 
prosecuting the objects of their high and holy calling ? 
Unless eminently spiritual, must they not ever and 
anon be actuated by low and selfish considerations ? 
How else can they, with single heart and eye, aim 
unceasingly at the glory of God ? How can they bear 
sufferings with patience ? How can they endure 
slights and reproaches with meekness ? How can they 
pleasurably perform duties which are painful to sloth- 
ful flesh and blood — such as visiting the sick, the poor, 
the suffering, the dying ? How can they take delight 
in the spiritual instruction of the young ? How can 
they heal the broken in heart and bind up their 
wounds ? And what thrilling motives there ai^e, beside, 
to stir up ministers to more than ordinary sanctity of 
heart and life ! Do not those who try to fulfil the 
duties of their office without personal holiness render 
their work a drudgery, and endanger their own sal- 
vation? "Many will say in that day, Lord, Lord, 
have we not prophecied in thy name ?" — Mat. vii 22 
— whom he shall answer, to their eternal dismay, " I 
never knew you: depart from me, ye workers of 
iniquity." Ministers are the subjects often of peculiar 
temptations. Satan bears the most deadly malice 
against those whose office is designed to overthrow 
his kingdom and destroy his dominion. How can 
they detect, resist, and overcome such temptations, if 



79 

their spiritual strength be small ? Ministers have 
many eyes upon them ; many who look narrowly to 
see if their practice correspond with their preaching ; 
and who, if they observe any, even the least, discre- 
pancy, will not fail to say, '' Physician heal thyself." 
Ministerial failures can scarcely be unknown or un- 
noticed. "The eclipses of the sun by day-time are 
seldom without witnesses." The fact that some of 
these eyes are " evil ;" that they " watch for the halt- 
ing" of ministers, is no reason why some advantage 
may not be gained by it. Samson found honey in 
the lion, so that " Out of the eater came forth meat, 
and out of the strong sweetness." An unsanctified 
minister will work, not for God, but for himself. How 
then can he expect the blessing of Heaven upon his 
labours ? Upon what ground can he hope for an 
approving '' Well done, good and faithful servant," 
from his Lord on that day, if, in fact, he was unspiritual 
and unfaithful ? How well for the Church and the 
world if the just conclusions, the glowing senti- 
ments, of the Eev. J. A. James, in his invaluable 
work, *' An Earnest Ministry the want of the Times," 
could but secure the contemplative and obedient 
perusal of all w^ho sustain the sacred office ! Mighty 
shades of Owen and Baxter ; Howe and Manton ; 
Henry and Bates ; Goodwin and Nye ; illustrious and 
holy men, we thank you for the rich legacy you have 
bequeathed to us in your immortal works ; but ! 
where has the mantle of your piety fallen ! 

" God of our Fathers ! be the God 
Of their succeeding race." 
Here then let us begin, w^here indeed we ought to 
begin, with our own spirits ; for what sJiould he the 



80 

piety of that man on the state of whose heart depends, in 
no small degree, the spiritual condition of a whole Chris- 
tian community ? If we turn to any department of 
human action, we shall leara that no one can inspire 
a taste, much less a passion, for the object of his own 
pursuit, who is not himself most powerfully moved 
by it. Lukewarmness can excite no ardour, originate 
no activity, produce no effect ; it benumbs whatever 
it touches. If we inquire for the sources of energy, 
the springs of activity, in the most successful minis- 
ters of Christ, we shall find that these lay in the 
ardour of their devotion. They were men of prayer 
and faith. They dwelt upon the mount of commu- 
nion with God, from whence they came down like 
Moses to the people, radiant with the glory on which 
they themselves had been intently gazing. They sta- 
tioned themselves where they could look at things 
unseen and eternal, and came with the stupendous 
visions fresh in tlieir view, and spoke of them under 
the impression of what they had just seen and heard. 
They drew^ their thoughts and made their sermons 
from their minds and from their books, but they 
breathed life and power into them from their hearts 
and in their closets. Trace either Whitefield or 
Wesley in their career, and you will see how beaten 
was the road between the pulpit and the closet ; the 
grass was not allowed to grow in that path. This was 
in great part the secret of their power. They were 
mighty in public, because, in their retirement, they 
had clothed themselves, so to speak, with Omnipo- 
tence. They reflected the lustre they had caught in 
the Divine presence ; and its attraction was irresistible. 
The same might be said of all others who have at- 



81 

tained to eminence as successful preachers of the 
Gospel. If, then, we would see a revival of the power 
of the pulpit, we must first of all see a revival in the 
piety of those who occupy it ; and when this is the 
case, then " He that is feeble among us shall be as 
David, and the house of David shall be as God, as the 
angel of the Lord before them." 

Mr. Tackaberry was one of those who " attained to 
eminence as a successful preacher of the Gospel." His 
very *' entrance in" on the Mountrath circuit was not 
in vain. Early in August he writes that he had 
already witnessed three conversions. Can this be 
wondered at when the following was the manner in 
which he sought success ? " When I came to this 
circuit, I offered myself soul and body more unre- 
servedly than ever to God ; for life, for death, for 
Eternity ; and pleaded hard with Him to revive His 
work witMn, and he is doing it. You may be ready to 
say I grow^ more in earnest when I like. Man can- 
not of himself grow more holy; but I have often felt that, 
through the grace already given, we may determine to 
seek an increase. I have had no such prospects the 
last tw^elve months as there are here. Surely there is 
an open door, but there are many adversaries. I am 
very well and very happy. Gloria Deo.'' 

Having finished the tour of his circuit, he writes : 
'* My soul was not as happy since I left Drogheda as 
it has been the last two weeks. I find much prayer is 
necessary to him that ivoidd enjoy much haj^piness in God. 
Constant employment also is very helpful. My 
busiest day generally is my happiest. ! that I may 
breathe every breath for Eternity. It seems at times in- 
expressibly near. ! the thought of being in Heaven 



82 

by and by !" His joy was augmented, in no small 
degree, the following month, by observing the exem- 
plary deportment of one recently converted in Mount- 
rath, thus demonstrating the reality of the change, 
and exciting prayerful and enlarged expectations. 
His next visit there was memorable. Having preached 
three times to large congregations on the Sabbath, and 
met two classes, he published for a prayer-meeting, 
inviting the penitents to come to it, the following 
morning. The power of the Lord was present to 
heal. Four persons obtained pardoning mercy. 
Several followed him to a place within two miles of 
the town that same evening, when, at class meeting, 
after preaching, a young man professed to have re- 
ceived an evidence of pardon. These were all mem- 
bers of the society. Here was earnestness ! Many 
would have rested satisfied with the Sabbath's labours 
without holding a prayer-meeting for penitents the 
next morning ; or, having done so, would have ex- 
cused themselves from extra effort that evening. And 
here w^as wisdom too ! Men must be wise to win 
souls. He did not overtax his strength on the Sab- 
bath, or weary out the attention and patience of his 
hearers, by a protracted service at the close of the 
third sermon, but met those that were anxious for 
salvation, mutually invigorated, and fresh for devo- 
tional exercises, the following morning. There was 
wisdom in varying his plan also on that evening ; a 
variation promotive of conversion and edification. In 
no place on the circuit were there so many adversaries 
and hindrances as in Mountrath ; and yet in no 
place were there so marked tokens of prosperity. 
If God will work, who can let it? When Herod 



83 

stretched forth his hand to vex the church and de- 
stroy Christianity, and when, having killed James 
and imprisoned Peter, he considered his object just 
accomplished, God interposed in answer to prayer, 
miraculously delivered Peter, called the royal perse- 
cutor to his account by a signal judgment, and then it 
was that " the Word of God grew and multiplied."-^ 
Mr. T.'s greatest discouragement, as it was the greatest 
barrier to his success, was " discord among brethren" 
of the same religious society, and on the same circuit. 
The feeling was not new. How did it wring the heart 
of an Apostle, when, writing from Corinth to the 
Church of Thessalonica, he intreated them: "Bre- 
thren, pray for us that the Word of the Lord may 
have free course and be glorified, even as it is with 
you." What were the chief impediments to the spread 
and triumphs of the Gospel in that city ? Were they 
those existing in general society — its legalized licen- 
tiousness, its inflated philosophy, its pride of wealth, 
or those existing within the church itself ? Was not 
the " schism in the body," accompanied by envying 
and contention, a more towering obstacle still? 
*' There is more difference of sentiment," observes 
Mr. T., " more disunion, more party spirit on this 
circuit than in any other place I have ever been. 
However, I just go straight forward, as if nothing of 
all this existed; though it has sometimes brought 
tears from my eyes." How careful should every 
Christian community be to avoid such Cormf/ifan evil ! 
Not only because in itself it causes " much affliction 
and anguish of heart "to the ministers of the Gospel, 

* Acts xii. 



84 

but because it wastes the time and exhausts the en- 
ergies of the church, indisposing and disquahfying 
them for benevolent effort. Wliat mjaiads are thus 
permitted to rush into perdition without any concern 
or exertion to save them ! 

Well knowing from Scripture example that the fo- 
mentors and abettors of discord in the Church are the 
''carnal," who "walk" as unregenerate "men," Mr. 
T. sought, in part, to remedy the evil by the matter 
and manner of his preaching: " I think," he says, " I 
never preached plainer than since I came here. In 
almost every sermon I insist pointedly on conversion, 
the witness and fruits of the Spirit, and I often tell 
tlie people that I would not give anything to have 
them called by the name, even of Methodists, if they 
were not converted and devoted to God." Zeal and 
fidelity in pastoral duties he also felt essential for the 
same purpose. " I see clearly the necessity of being 
more active in visiting and praying with the people 
from house to house than I have ever been. In the 
name of God I have set heartily about this work. I 
also purpose meeting every class round the circuit as 
often as will be convenient to the classes themselves. 
All this and much more is possible, and yet have time 
to read and pray much, if no time be lost. I have 
again attacked my dry studies since I got my books 
from Skibbereen." 

The expressed desire of friends that he might visit 
home at this time, di^ew forth the following reply, in- 
dicative of healthy, growing piety, and of delight in 
his work : " My mind is kept tranquil. To see home 
would be sweet, but the will of my Heavenly Father 
is sweeter. A few years more, and we will be safe at 



85 

home in Heaven." The desked visit was made shortly 
after, and he returned to his circuit " more than ever 
determined to live and vreacli holiness," a determina- 
tion made in seJ/- distrust, for he prays : " May I feel 
my dependence, and lean with all my might upon the 
arm of Omnipotence. ! may God help me to hreathe 
my every breath for Him !" 

*' Determined to live and preach holiness." Had 
he resolved only to exhibit Christian privileges, with- 
out securing the personal possession of them, or to 
enforce Christian duties without caring to practice 
those duties himself — no matter how orthodox, no 
matter how earnest, no matter how eloquent his mi- 
nistry — how inconsistent, how fruitless such resolution ! 
The minister who fails to practice what he recom- 
mends in his preaching, who does the thing which he 
condemns in the pulpit, is himself the greatest hin- 
drance to the success of his ministry, the greatest 
curse to his congregation. If his own attainments in 
piety be dwarfish, with what propriety can he urge 
his hearers to press towards the mark " of holiness" 
for the prize of Heaven? If he be proud, haughty, 
overbearing himself, how unseemly his inculcation of 
humility? If he be notoriously a money-lover, how 
pointless and powerless his declamations against 
covetousness, and his exhortations to a large-hearted 
liberality ? If he be passionate, sullen, revengeful, 
with what ill-gi^ace does he enforce the duties of meek- 
ness and the forgiveness of injuries ? Ministers, says 
Baxter, should " study as hard how to live well as 
how to preach well." If to " live holiness," and that 
so as to be an example to the believers, be not indis 

pensable in ministers, then the unholiness of those 

I 



86 

sustaining the office is no hindrance to their minis- 
trations, according to the teaching of the Church of 
Eome, which affirms that priests hving in mortal sin 
can efficiently perform the duties of their office ;^ and 
that wickedness in the minister does not invaUdate 
any of his official acts.f 

Mr. Tackaberrywas always more or less successful, 
as he increased or declined in spirituality. Not that 
he was unspiritual at any period of his ministerial 
life, or altogether unsuccessful; but his usefulness 
was ever in proportion to his piety. Of this, the fol- 
lowing extract will supply an illustration : "I am 
striving after w^hat will make me more like God. Our 
circuit is certainly looking up. The Sabbath evening 
after I came back, I preached in this town (Abbyleix) 
on Eev. vi. 17. Two young men were awakened 
under that sermon, one of whom found peace two 
weeks after. The other is still seeking. They are 
both sons of class-leaders, and both of them began to 
meet in class the next Sabbath. I had this account 
from the converted young man last night. You may 
be sure it did me good." 

He had found, by experience, as what Christian has 
not? that a grateful and constant sense of Divine 
benefits, small as well as great, together with an im- 
mediate use of Christ by faith, when conscience up- 
braids for personal failures, is the secret of being 
always happy. Therefore, he adds : *' My soul has 
had much of the loving Kedeemer's presence to-day, 
O ! to be holy, to be like our precious Jesus ! I am 
learning to be more thankful for what I used to con 

* Council of Trent, Ses. 14. + Peter Dens. 



87 

sider little things, and I am praying that I may be 
yet more so. Much consists in this and looking unto 
Jesus." Agonizing solicitude for personal purity and 
for the prosperity of his circuit did not abate his con- 
cern for the salvation of the unconverted members of 
his family. Thus he writes to one of his sisters : 

" My dear Jenny — You are much and often on my 
mind. ! that I may see you truly happy in God be- 
fore long ! Jane dear, give your whole heart to 
Jehovah, and leave results to him. ! how my heart 
goes out in prayer for you that it may be so. Help 
Lord, O ! help speedily ! Eternity will soon arrive. 
I feel it inexpressibly near and important. I am 
striving more than ever to be on the right hand. O 1 
God on which hand shall I see my Jenny ? My dear, 
the thought, the most distant thought of your being 
on the left would be more than I could bear, O ! then, 
glad my heart by giving yourself fully to the Lord — 
to the Lord who loves you ; to the Lord who waits 
to be gracious, and to establish you in righteousness. 
I pray for you every day, and can never be satisfied 
until I hear that, spirit, soul and body, you are the 
Lord's. May he bless you, lift the light of his coun- 
tenance on you, and give you peace ! I am your 
affectionate brother and servant in Jesus, 

F. T." 

Nor did he neglect his own vineyard while he kept 
that of others. Of this the communications imme- 
diately succeeding the above, afford refreshing evi- 
dence, containing such records as these : 

" Our prospects on this circuit are still brightening, 
but it will take labour and patience to seciu-e a general 



88 

stir. I do think I never strove so hard for holikess 
as I have done the last two weeks. I believe my soul 
will ascend. GI017 to God. 

*' I am learning to be more thankful for a little than 
I used to be. I see the reason I am not more holy 
and happy. There is not enough ' looking to Jesus.' 
I am often shown that unbelief is a God-dishonouring 
sin, and that not looking to Jesus continually is only 
one remove from unbelief. I feel much disengage- 
ment from earth, and much delight at the thought of 
glory, yet there is not that momentary living in 
Heaven which I so often see before me, and from the 
attainment of which I hope I am not far. We are 
hoping for great times to-morrow and next day in this 
town (Mountrath.) The Lord be with us, and with 
my dear friends in Ballycanew." 

Expectation from God, devoutly cherished and 
rightly directed, is never disappointed. On Christmas 
day, 1823, the congregations in Mountrath were large* 
and the indications hopeful. The Love-feast was held 
the following day. Mr. Downing preached, Mr. T. 
observes, one of the best sermons he ever heard, and 
such an overwhelming sense of the Divine presence 
was felt in the after meeting, as he had not witnessed 
since he came to the country. Nearly all declared 
they never were so happy before. Many in the 
classes now began to speak of sanctification, the result 
of the " strong and explicit" manner in which it was 
explained and enforced in the ministry of the Word. 
** I know," remarks Mr. T., " If I were more holy, I 
would speak much more boldly." And were minis- 
ters themselves wholly sanctified, — did they but 



89 

personally walk high in salvation, — would their trumpet 
on that subject give an uncertain sound ? 

Mr. T. thus describes the spirit and purposes with 
which he entered upon the new year : " I am resolv- 
ing to live more fully to the Lord this year than ever. 
May I, while spared, be wholly his. I had this 

morning a most glorious season, while Mr. C and 

I prayed together. This old saint always does me 
good.'' To be a lover of good men is ever a promi- 
nent and amiable feature of true Christianity ; there- 
fore, continues Mr. T., — " he is amongst the very 
best of men, and will shine brighter in Heaven than 
many who have been much more known." 

Intent on spreading " scriptural holiness" through- 
out his circuit, he formed six bands, four in each, in 
Mountmelick, on New Year's Day ; cheered with the 
assurance that, " if rightly attended to, they would be 
made a great blessing to that society." He formed 
another for young men in Mountrath. All this, 
taken in connexion with the following reflections, will 
be regarded as a healthy spiritual pulse, indicative of 
vigorous and growing piety: "Nearly all this day 
that sweet text. Psalm cviii. 1 , was on my mind : 
* ! God, my heart is fixed, I will sing and give 
praise.' I feel there is much wisdom in this mode of 
conduct : Pirst, To get the heart fixed, fixed to be 
fully the Lord's, in every case, under all circum- 
stances ; and then we ought, secondly, to ' sing : ' 
This implies joy ; * and give praise :' This, I suppose, 
means that we adore God for his goodness, and that we 
tell others of it." This communication he concludes 
thus : '* May I be more fully the Lord's ! ! how 
my heart longs to be his — his as I have never yet 



90 

been ! I am this morning with a newly-awakened 
family, who are all seeking Jesus. My own soul is 
in a sweet frame, forming plans to be more holy and 
more devoted to God." 

Aged ministers, if kind, sympathising, and com- 
municative, may be of incalculable service to their 
younger brethren, and through them to many, by in- 
quiring as to their habits, and then by giving suitable 
instructions, cautions, and encouragements, remember- 
ing their own early struggles ; and the dictate of hu- 
mility and prudence to the juniors in such case, would 
be to give respectful and obedient heed to counsel, 
the fruit of matured wisdom and experience. Mr. 
T. thus earnestly and thankfully availed himself of 
such advantage : *' I think the acquaintance of Mr. 
M'Kee, of Mountmellick, will be a blessing to me. He 
travelled twenty-nine years in our connexion, was 
useful and much-beloved. He is now a supernumerary. 
He isaman of very sweet spirit,but I imagine he should 
know a person a while before being very friendly, and 
then his friendship would be valuable, especially to a 
young man. He seems to be coming much nearer 
to me than at first. He has not begun to advise me 
as freely as I v/oulcl wish, but I think he will 
soon. He asks me about my reading, my plan of 
sermonizing, my visiting, &c. He also offered me 
the loan of some useful books which I had not read. 
You see the Lord raises up friends for me as I need 
them. He has given me some counsels on prudence 
in my management of the people, for which I am 
truly obliged " 

Satisfied that he was in the order of Providence, he 
pursued his course of duty with loving zeal and even 



91 

joy. The societies in most places were quickened. 
Prayer ascended from many a heart, longing for an 
increase of personal piety, and for the conversion of 
sinners. Faith waxed stronger and stronger ; hope 
grew more lively ; and the prayer of faith, signally 
answered, was succeeded by songs of triumphant 
praise. The successes of Dr. Carey in India suggested 
to the Baptist Missionary Society, as a motto for their 
Bi-centenary medal : 

" Attempt geeat things foe God ; 
Expect geeat things eeom God." 

And does not the sure word of prophetic promise 
waiTant such expectation ? '• Fear not, ! Land ; he 
glad and rejoice : for the Lord will do great things."^ 
*' We are praying and hoping " — this was the language 
of Mr. T. at this time— '^ for great things." He 
laboured, as well as prayed and hoped. It is done to 
Christians according to their faith : it might also be 
said according to their work of faith. Feeble faith, 
and scanty, fitful effort, can only produce correspond- 
ing results, according to the axioms : " He which 
soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he 
which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." 
*' Every man shall receive his own reward, according 
to his own labour." The subject of our narrative 
was, consequently, enabled to relate : *' Although I 
cannot say with Bramwell, ' I see some saved every 
night,' thank God I can say I see some saved every 
round. Lord help me to labour for great things, and 
yet to be thankful for little things. I am not worthy 
to wipe a Bramwell's shoes. I am getting more 

*Joel ii. 21. 



92 

fearful to say much about my experience than I used 
to be ; but I will say to the gloiy of God that my 
soul has enjoyed peculiar sweetness for several days, 
past. My soul has been resting in God — my all, I 
see I am onlv besrinninof to live ! I will not be satis- 
fied short of all the fulness of God. There is an 
eternity of love before me. I often feel power to 
wrestle in prayer for my deai' mother. We will be in 
Heaven yet." 

These are some of the -'great things."' More are 
to follow : •• The Mounti^ath meeting was a blessed 
one indeed. Many declared they never saw such a 
meetincr. Om' house was veiw full, sri'ound floor and 
gallery, in the Love-feast, and all felt that God was 
there. We had a few testimonies to entire sanctifica- 
tion, and several hungering after it ; and we had a 
cloud of witnesses clearly testilH'ing that Christ hath 
power upon earth to forgive sins. Two received a 
conscious pardon during the meeting. Mr. Down- 
ing^ savs he saw nothinof like it since he came, 
nor does he think the Mountrath circuit was in 
so good a state these ten yeai's. It will be a cross 
to me to leave it, if I happen to be moved ; but • Thy 
will be done' will enable me to take it up. Mr. 
Downing has been made very useful. 3Iany will re- 
gret his removal. The Lord be praised for Metho- 
dism !" 

The naiTative is inteiTupted with the imponant 
direction : " May my mother be so taken up with 
looking to Jesus and giving thanks, as to have no 
time for unbeheving reasoning or complaint. ' AU 
are yours.' ! how gi'eat the legacy ! Claim all that 
is left you in your heavenly Father's will." 



93 

Then he resumes : '* My soul is longing after God. 
He has my heart, and has emptied it ! that He 
may fill it ! I get into the fields before and after 
preaching some of these fine evenings, and have 
blessed times. My God, help me to hunger after 
more of thyself every day ! Mount Melleck, 14th. — 
Striving to go to Heaven. I bless God that is al- 
ways uppermost. After ten : Come in from meeting 
the bands, and praying v^ith some families. Three in 
the bands testified clearly to the cleansing power of 
the blood of Christ." 

Yearning for the salvation of *' those of his own 
household," he shortly after writes the following letter, 
so characteristic, to one of his brothers, urging him to 
turn to God : 

*' My dear Henry — You are very often on my 
mind. Your welfare lies very near my heart. I fre- 
quently regret that we did not speak more about that 
Eternity to which we are hastening. Were I at 
home now, I think we would converse and pray more 
together concerning it. Henry dear, I trust you are 
yourself beginning to think on the subject in right 
earnest. It is high time to give your heart to God. 
You know he made you for this ; that Christ died for 
this ; and you know you could not yourself relinquish 
the thought, no not for a moment, of getting to 
Heaven. Lose Heaven ? Lose Heaven ? ! Henry, 
sure you could not think of losing Heaven. Begin 
to seek God noiv. 1 put not off, but begin to-day. 
You often wish to be holy. Then set about seeking 
the Lord. You will find the ways of religion sweetly 
pleasant. I greatly long for your conversion, and am 
sometimes full of hope. ! disappoint me not. Did 



94 

I say me ? Disappoint not the angels who have long 
waited to carry the news to Heaven, * the lost is found.' 
Disappoint not the God who made you, the Saviour 
who redeemed you, the good Spirit who is, who long 
has been, striving with you ; hut disappoint Hell of 
her hope, and Satan of his expectation, by now turn- 
ing to God. Lord, what shall I say to persuade ? 
Lay to thy hand ! Melt him by thy love ! Horrify 
him at the thought of being lost, and lead him to thy- 
self! * * * * ji, 

Eead the best practical books, such as Alleine's 
Alarm ; Baxter's Call ; Doddridge's Rise and Progress ; 
and Wesley's Sermons ; still having God's book first 
and last. You ask, ' when can I read all these ?' I 
answer, do not waste time, and you will get over all and 
more." 

A few months after writing this letter, he conducted 
the Love-feast, in Abbeyleix, the best held there, the 
people said, since the division. The expectation was 
general that a revival was near, and many hearts were 
drawn out to pray for it. Meanwhile, his own soul 
" longed, sometimes intensely, to be in everything 
like Jesus." 

To devise and execute plans of usefulness, the most 
extensive and permanent, is at once the privilege and 
duty of the Christian. He is bound, by obligations 
innumerable and affecting, to make provision, if possi- 
ble, to benefit the church and the world after his death. 
One certain mode of operation for this pm^pose is to pro- 
mote the erection of places of worship where the 
Gospel may be purely preached, and the ordinances 
and discipline of Christianity duly administered. 
How rich the consolation that he may thus live, and 



96 

his influence be thus felt, to the glory of God and the 
welfare of man, hundreds of years after the grave has 
closed upon him ! With these convictions, desires 
and hopes, Mr. T. obtained from Lord De Vesci a 
site, on easy terms, on which to erect a Methodist 
Chapel in the town of Abbeyleix, The manner of the 
gift enhanced its value, and led Mr. T, to regard his 
lordship as " amongst the best noblemen in the world." 
In July, 1824, Mr. T. was appointed to the Boyle 
and Killesandra circuit. Having arrived at his des- 
tination, he writes home: " I got safe to Killesandra 
on Friday evening. My dear, kind-hearted John S. 
Wilson came more than forty miles out of his way to 
show me the road, and talk with me. He is truly in 
earnest. O ! may our great Master bless and keep 
him !" They formerly resided near each other, and 
were the fruit of the same religious revival in the 
county of Wexford. The ardour of brother Wilson and 
of the early Methodists may by some be regarded 
as excessive ; but better give reason for such imputation 
than that the poet's character of the primitive Chris- 
tians should have no counterpart in modern times : 

'*Witli grace abundantly endued, 
A pure believing multitude ; » 

They all were of one heart and soul, 
And only love inspired the whole." 

Mr. T.'s predecessor had given him a larger character 
than he found convenient, since, he said, the people 
were led to expect great things. The circuit was not 
such as he would choose. There was much to do and 
something to suffer. The travelling was extensive^ 
the population chiefly rustic, and he seldom had op- 



96 

portunity of intercourse with, liis ministerial brethren 
except when his " warm-hearted" brother Wilson, then 
stationed on the Trim Mission, came to see him ; in- 
tercourse which, on such stations, and under such cn'- 
cumstances, must have been mutually grateful and 
refreshing. He felt " quite easy as to his appoint- 
ment," trusting that all was in the order of God. 
Eenewing his covenant- engagements, he gave himself 
"continually to prayer and to the ministry of the 
Word," not without palpable tokens for good. In 
his correspondence he speaks of his effort to be much 
alone, that he might have much time for prayer and 
reading, and of the blessedness of communion with 
God. His prospects soon began to brighten in some 
places. In others, through the prevalence of Eoman- 
ism, there was no clay to make brick, except such as 
w^ould not work." He enjoyed the scenery, so new 
to him, which he thus describes : *' The appearance 
of this country is quite different from the county 
Wexford. It is all hills and lakes. I have reckoned 
nineteen lakes, standing at the door of one of my 
lodgings. The lovely Shannon meanders through 
parts of this circuit. These things are very agreeable 
when the soul is happy in Jesus. w^hat must the 
heavenly country be ! Glory be to God that we have 
it in prospect!" 

It will be seen from his next communication, dated 
October, 1824, that already his ministry had excited 
general attention and lively expectations of prosperity, 
the gracious results of the spirit in which he prose- 
cuted his work : " Aunt Morris asks me some questions, 
which I may answer through you. ' Are your lodgings 
comfortable ?* With one exception, I have no damp 



\ 



97 

beds on this circuit, and the people are very affec- 
tionate ; but the lodgings are not what they were on 
the Mountrath circuit. ' How is your health ?' Just 
as good as at any time since I came out to travel, and 
I never expect it to be much better." It would, more 
than probably, have been otherwise, had he been dis- 
satisfied with his appointment, and repined at his lot, 
** * Have you laid out any time to come home ?' I need 
not anfewer this question till April next. If spared 
till then, I may be laying out. There would not be 
the least use now in talking about home. We have 
encouraging hopes of a revival here. There are great 
congregations. I have had an unusual sense of the 
Divine presence this last round. I often think I am 
one of the happiest men in existence. A child of 
God, all my sins forgiven, loving people to associate 
with, good books to read, and time to read them ! 
Above all, called to preach His Word, of which I have 
no doubt, a work my soul delights in above all others, 
and which I think by far the most glorious under the 
sun ! Surely I ought never to cease praising the 
Lord. And then the prospect of Heaven ! Glory to 
God that ever I was born !" 

It was his meat and drink to minister to the health 
and comfort of " the flock of God," by letter as well 
as otherwise—" strengthening the diseased, healing 
the sick, binding up that which is broken." He thus 
counsels one of the weaklings of that flock : " I hope 
you are kept looking to Jesus from moment to 
moment. This is the royal way, the safe way, 
God's own way, but the way that Satan peculiarly 
hates. He will do his utmost to turn you out of this 



98 

way. He will make you look at earth, at business, at 
cares, at trifles, at self, at short-comings, at past un- 
faithfulness, at the sins which God has long since 
blotted out, anywhere or at anything, so he may in- 
duce you to look off from Christ. By this stratagem 
he keeps the soul from cultivating the spirit of praise, 
and prevents its momentary happiness in God. ! 
yes, I know all this. May we therefore resist him 
and he will fly from us. Praise the Eedeemer this 
moment! Sick or well, joyful or sorrowful, per- 
plexed or comforted, praise Him ! You are His — He 
is yours — and in having Him you have all.*' And 
then he adds some information regarding himself 
and his circuit : "My health and spirits are remark- 
ably good — all well, if I had more holiness. We 
have nothing extraordinary on the circuit. The con- 
gregations in some places are very large for this 
coimtry. In Carrick-on-Shannon we had an outcry 
lately. There are a few whom I greatly love for the 
length of our acquaintance. One blessing out of 
many attached to the life of a preacher is that he gets 
acquainted with so many of the excellent of the earth. 
I am at the very toj:) of my ambition in my present 
calling. My love to your preachers. I regard myself 
as of one flesh and blood with the Methodist 
preachers." 

The next month there was " no small stir" in seve- 
ral localities. His own account of it is : " We have 
blessed prospects on this circuit at present. The 
congregations are amazing, especially in this neigh- 
bourhood, (Carrick-on-Shannon) and some have joined 
the Carrick class every week for some weeks past. I 



99 

have not seen many thorougly converted yet, but there 
is a marvellous move among the people." And then 
he describes his method with the penitents : "I have 
been trying my favourite plan of proceeding with 
penitents, and I believe God made it a blessing. 
That is, I enquire, ' do you believe the Lord is able 
— is willing — is willing now — now. this moment, to 
bless you ?' These questions answered — * then surely 
you are willing to receive the blessing at his hand ?' 
* O, yes !' Then we kneel down and pray, and pray, 
and pray again, and the Lord generally answers for 
himself." 

After all, does not this method require some expo- 
sition; exposition which, no doubt, would be given in 
exhortation or prayer at the time ? God is not able 
or willing to do anything inconsistent with his nature, 
attiibutes or government. It is true that He is able and 
willing to pardon the penitent just now. But why ? 
Because a sufficient oblation and satisfaction has been 
made for sin by the death of His Son ; and He can 
therefore forgive all sins that are past, consistently 
with the holiness of His nature, the honour of His 
law, and the rectitude of His administration; thus 
expressing infinite abhorrence to sin, and intense love 
to the sinner, inexorable justice, punishing sin in the 
person of the substitute, and abounding grace, pardon- 
ing the transgressor, in consideration of that vicarious 
atonement. 

In February Mr. T. relates that some were con- 
verted, and joined the society every month. His 
ministry, in one place, was attended by the gentry, 
and proved useful to some of them. He speaks with 



100 

affectionate interest of Captain and Mrs. , and of 

their veiy promising family. ** He is thoroughly con- 
verted," remarks Mr. T., "but I do not like to reckon 
too soon upon grand folk." In the midst of these 
labours and encouragements, death was regarded with 
complacency, unmixed with a single boding fear: 
"I am very happy at times. Eternity seems very 
near, and the thought of Heaven always delights me. 
But O ! I wish I were very holy. I hope I shall." 

At the Conference of 1825, Mr. T. was reappointed 
to the Mountrath circuit, after an interval of but a 
year, with the Eev. James Johnston as superinten- 
dent. This was very grateful to his feelings, and his 
return was hailed with lively emotions of joy by the 
congregations and societies. His impressions con- 
cerning the Kev. Thomas Kerr and his wife, the 
father and mother of Mrs. Johnston, will not be un- 
interesting or unedifying : " Mr. Kerr is at first a 
little distant and sharp, and I think could give a 
young preacher a smart brushing if he deserved it ; 
however, we seem to be coming nearer to each other. 
Mrs. Kerr is a holy woman. She always reminds me 
of Mrs. Fletcher when I see her. She is really a 
fine old saint— her heart full of God, her tongue full 
of His praise." 

Heartily ashamed of himself, yet greatly comforted 
and encouraged, he gave himself afresh to God in 
covenant, and entered upon his work in the spuit of 
prayer and of entire consecration. His communion 
with God, somewhat interrupted evidently by the re- 
moval from one circuit to another, became more inti- 
mate, and, with that closer communion, his personal 



101 

enjoyment sensibly increased. " Some days the last 
fortnight," he writes, " I have been so happy as I 
rode along that I could scarcely contain myself. One 
day in particular, I thought of Bunyan, who said he 
would have told his happiness to the crows, could 
they have understood him. Last night, after a field- 
meeting at the rock of Dunamace, Mr. and Mrs. 
Johnston and I spent the night at good Mr. T.'s. 
At family prayer the presence of the Lord came down 
and quite overwhelmed us. We wept aloud ; we 
prayed, concluded, and remained on our knees, for 
no one would rise. Thus were we engaged for more 
than an hour. This I hope is a token for good. O ! 
how I wish that I had always loved God. that I 
may never love him less than at this moment !" 

His reflection on the death of Summerfield is ad- 
monitory and impressive. " That prodigy and emi- 
nent preacher, John Summerfield, died of dropsy of 
the chest, at New York, on 10th of last June. How 
many great men die young ! Brainerd, Walsh, 
Martyn, Kirke Wliite, and now Summerfield — all 
under thirty ! ! life, life, what a vapour ! May we 
all live for Heaven to-day r 

September 12. — He informs his Uncle Morris : 
'* Last Sunday evening, in Mountmellick, two persons 
had to regulate the house, in order to get the people 
stowed into it. I never saw it so full before." Thus 
did listening crowds testify their satisfaction at his 
reappointment to the circuit. 

It was a wise purpose he formed at this time — a 
wise purpose at all times : " I find it well to deter- 
mine, I will he happy, if I can. When thus resolved, 



102 



n 



trifles no longer disturb — there is a sweet calm. 
Glory to God it is so with me. I have had very 
sweet seasons in secret these weeks past. My soul 
is sometimes exceedingly happy." 

He notices the September Love-feast, in the place 
last mentioned, with emphatic pleasure : " We had a 
most blessed Love-feast on Tuesday last. Five 
or six professed to receive purity of heart. Mr. 
Johnston was sometimes so happy in the course of 
the meeting, as to sit down in the pulpit quite over- 
whelmed." 

Union between a superintendent and his colleague 
or colleagues, the fruit of mutual affection and con- 
fidence, is essential, not only to their personal com- 
fort, but to the harmony and prosperity of the circuit. 
Where this is not the case, suspicions, jealousies, 
evil-speakings, party spirit, generating " schism in 
the body," with all its frightful evils, are the natm-al, 
inevitable, and deplorable consequences. Where 
unity takes place — cordial, sincere, practical — and a 
respectful candour, an honest frankness, is not inimi- 
cal to such unity — the beneficial results, as to their 
number, magnitude, and permanency, cannot be too 
highly estimated. "Perhaps," says Mr. Tackabery, 
" no two preachers ever pulled together more sweetly 
than Mr. Johnston and I do." And the influence for 
good of their hearty affection and co-operation is felt 
by many to this day ! 

I have still in remembrance the animated manner 
in which, at om^ annual conferences, Mr. T. has some- 
times expressed to me the pleasure witli which he 
looked forward to seasons of closet communion with 



I 



103 



God the ensuing year. His experience at the period 
now under consideration was especially the result of 
such exercises: "I often review my inheritance. 
Whenever faith is clear and strong, I could then 
wilhngly wing my way to the City in the Skies. The 
thought of this is very sweet, and the earnest of it 
sweeter. I have many precious times in secret, and am 
every week expecting more." Again : "I think, upon the 
whole, the quarter that has elapsed since Conference 
has been one of the best of my life. I am usually 
blessed with such a sense of Jehovah's presence, as 
causes everything to flow evenly on. I am very busy 
and very happy. Between preaching, reading, writing, 
visiting families, hard study and private devotion, I 
have plenty to occupy every moment of my time ; and 
O ! how sweet to look through all to a happy eternity ! 
When I get right view^s of it, everything below seems 
little indeed ! ! the weight of glory !" 

The winter of this year was a time of great mor- 
tality on the circuit. Some with whom he was wont 
to be a guest, in regular course, having exchanged 
worlds, led him to adopt the poet's reflections as his 
own : 

" What says the transportation of our friends ? 

It bids us love the place where now they dwell, 

And scorn this wretched spot they leave so poor; 

Heaven gives us friends to bless the present scene ; 

Resumes them to prepare us for the next." 
To keep the tongue in proper control, is one of the 
most important, as it is perhaps one of the most 
difficult, branches of self-government ; and to keep 
the heart engaged with God in prayer and praise, in 
the midst of agreeable and edifying conversation, may 



104 



not be less so. Self-knowledge, an ardent desire for 
uninterrupted fellowship with God, and momentary 
meetness for Heaven, will probably induce the con- 
viction that these duties are imperative. Mr. T. 
entered upon the year 1836 with such conviction, and 
there followed the happiest results. Under date 
Januaiy 25, he writes: " I have been tr}'ing these few 
days what saying little and praying much will do. 
O the blessedness of drawing very near to the Lord ! 
Last night, while giving out the first hymn in Clo- 
naslee, I was so melted and affected with the love of 
Jesus to me, that I could scarcely sing or speak." 

The adaptation of Satan's devices is as complete as 
their variety is extensive. His wiles are suited to all 
stages of religious experience, all external circum- 
stances, all relations of life, all periods of existence, 
and all offices in the church. Churches collectively 
— in their administrative capacity — are not exempt 
from them. At one time he may tempt to laxity of 
discipline in the case of immoral members, and at 
another to measures of undue severity. The latter 
was the stratagem against which the Apostle found 
it needful to caution the Corinthian Church. What 
w4sdom, prudence, charity, fidelity are required by 
the executive of every Christian community. Ministers 
also, especially useful ministers, are peculiarly the 
objects of diabolic cunning, malice, treachery, as, in 
the battle-field, commanders are marked men, and many 
a deadly aim will be taken to bring them down. Mr. 
Tackaberry thus notices one of these wiles : — " I have 
been thinking of one of Satan's most common temp- 
tations, namely, that full sanctification should not be 



i 



105 

sought till we are about to leave the world, since 
having attained it, we must be so watchful as to have 
no comfort of our lives, and probably might lose it 
again. Now, the higher we rise in religion the 
greater our degree of enjoyment and of power.'' 

One of Mr. T.'s maxims was that, *' Popularity 
without usefulness is a dangerous thing," — a maxim 
which exerted a beneficial influence upon his own 
heart and ministry. The danger is imminent. In 
the present day such is the estimate in which talent 
is held, apart from piety and other soul-saving quali- 
ties in ministers, that superior intellect, a brilliant 
genius, and a discursive fancy, combined with advan- 
tages of voice and manner, are sure to attract the 
crowd. But is there no ground for apprehension, in 
such case, that the preacher is in danger of being 
satisfied at having secured the admiration of his 
auditory as his end and reward ? Is there no 
room to fear that the hearers are in danger of so- 
lacing themselves with the intellectual treat, con- 
tented and resolved meanwhile to continue the slaves 
of sin ? How just, forcible, and necessary the senti- 
ments of a late writer on this subject: " I am afraid 
the taste is not quite so pure, correct and elevated on 
this matter as it should be. There is, it is true, a de- 
mand, and it is well there is, for a vivacious and ani- 
mated manner of preaching; and, provided there be 
what is intellectual, there is a decided preference for 
what is evangelical in association with it ; but, there 
is reason to fear that, in some cases, a small modicum 
of evangelical truth would do, provided there was an 
abundance of talent. Earnestness is demanded ; but, 
with some, it is rather the eai'nestness of the head 



106 

than of the heart ; the laboured and eloquent effusion 
of the scholar, the philosopher or the poet, rather 
than the gush of hallowed feeling of him who 
watcheth for souls as one that must give account. 
There is an idolatry of talent in this day which runs 
through society ; and this man-worship has crept also 
into the church, and corrupted its members. It is 
painful to perceive how far this is carried in many 
circles, and to see what homage is paid, what incense 
is burnt, to some popular favourites. It is not religion 
or holiness that is thus elevated, but genius and 
knowledge. It is not moral beauty, but intellectual 
strength, that is lauded to the skies : the loftiest 
models of human goodness receive but few devotees 
and scanty offerings at their shrine, compared with 
the gods of the understanding. It is very evident 
that, in many cases, the Gospel is loved, if loved at 
all, for the sake of the talent with which it is preached, 
and not the talent for the sake of the Gospel. There 
can be no surer mark of a moral apostacy, a lapse 
from man's primseval innocence, when he came per- 
fect from the hands of his Maker, bearing the moral 
image of his Creator, than this disposition to exalt 
genius above piety. 

" That some respect must be paid to talent, even 
in the ministry of the Word, is admitted ; such a dis- 
position is inseparable from human nature, and is a 
part of the design of God in creating our race, and 
forming man with varied powers of the understand- 
ing : a fine intellect is to be admired as well as an 
elegant form or a beautiful flower ; and so much the 
more as that which is mental is superior to that which 
is corporeal. But, when th^ Christian public shall be 



107 

so enamoured of talent, as to admire it more than the 
message which it is employed to set forth ; when no 
preacher can be heard with pleasure or endurance, 
however sound his doctrine, clear his statements, im- 
pressive his manner, or earnest his address, unless 
his discourse is radient with the light of genius, or 
fragrant with the flowers of rhetoric ; when truth 
itself is unpalatable, unless it be sweetened with the 
honey of human eloquence, — and even error so sweet- 
ened can be swallowed for the sake of the luscious 
accompaniment; when the hearer of a sermon can 
turn from it with disgust, because it fails to regale 
his fancy by the brilliancy of its images, or to lull 
his ear by the smoothness and harmony of its periods ; 
when this is the state of the public taste — and it is 
to be feared that, to a great extent, it is the state of 
it now — -surely it is time to call the attention of our 
congregations to something higher and better."* 

Another of Mr. T.'s pulpit maxims was, that ''a 
minister should always tell his hearers something they 
did not knov/ before." Hence he gave himself in- 
cessantly to reading and study, as well as to prayer. 
His preaching combined instruction, correction, 
warning, persuasion, and consolation in their due pro- 
portions, as if intent to realise the petition : 

" Fumish'd out of thy treasury, 
! may we always ready stand 
To help the souls redeem'd by thee 
In what their various states demand ; 
To teach, convince, correct, reprove, 
And build them up in holiest love." 

* An Earnest Ministry the Want of the Times. By Eev. J. 
A. James. Pages 296-300. 



108 

He was a popular preacher ; but his popularity was of 
the desirable, the safe kind. The people were drawn 
to hear him more from a desire to he 2^rofited than to he 
'pleased ; more from a view to their salvation than to their 
intellectual gratification. Of this, an example is fur- 
nished in a communication dated Mountmeliick, 
March 20, 1826 : "We had a good Love-feast at Abbey- 
leix, on Friday ; and I preached to the largest congre- 
gations I ever saw in our house here last night and 
this night — ^but to reach their hearts. This has been 
with me a week of much labour in private prayer, and 
of unusual happiness of soul. how near seems' 
Eternity ! The Lord I hope is drawing me into more 
recollectedness and guardedness ; more into Himself, 
Glory be to Him." 

Keligious meditation is a certain means of high 
and pure enjoyment. Thus, when the Psalmist says^ 
" My meditation of Him shall be sweet," he imme- 
diately adds, "I will be glad in the Lord."* Again, 
the same connexion is observable, where he says, 
" When I remember Thee upon my bed, and meditate 
on Thee in the night watches, my soul shall be satisfied 
as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall 
praise Thee with joyful lips, "f Mr. T. found it espe- 
cially so at this time. " That text," he remarks, 
*' has been on my mind every day this week. * My 
meditation of Him shall be sweet.' ! how sweet to 
contemplate the happiness we shall soon enjoy in 
His presence !" Again : " The thought of glory should 
occupy most of our thoughts. It has enraptured me 
sometimes this month. Heaven ! Heaven ! And 

* Psalm civ. 34. f Psalm Ixiii. 5, 6. 



109 



shall we be there directly ? I am striving and pray- 
ing that I may not fret for anything, but be always 
happy." Again : ** The heart kept above by looking 
to Jesus, meditation and prayer, what happiness is 
enjoyed ! The want of this is the reason why we 
have so little sitting in Heavenly places — so little re- 
joicing evermore, now-a days. How refreshing often 
to retire, and in delightful meditation to contemplate 
the glories of the upper v/orld ! To feel Heaven a 
reality ! To anticipate being there soon ! At first 
the heart may be cold, and the mind wander ; but 
when we persevere, the affections glow with Divine 
warmth, and melt in adoring thankfulness. Our 
home seems at hand ! Already we are in spirit 
amongst saints and angels — already at the feet of 
Jesus ! Jesus who loved me and gave Himself for me /" 
The times in which we live, the spirit of the age, 
and the example of most Christian professors, may 
be unfavourable to this contemplative piety, this 
hidden life ; but yet is its cultivation as possible and 
profitable as ever. Nor can there be any want of 
subjects for meditation, since the Holy Scriptures 
supply them in such number and diversity. Were 
we shut up to two — God and Heaven — there were no 
dearth of iratter for hallowed and felicitous thought ; 
God in His varied and infinite perfections, His pleni- 
tude of glories, His amazing wisdom, His wonderful 
counsels, His boundless benevolence. His redeeming 
mercy, His pardoning; adopting, and sanctifying 
grace. His preserving power, His purposes of love 
towards His obedient children — for ! His thoughts 
concerning them are thoughts of peace and not of 

L 



110 

evil. And Heaven : its amplitude, the perfection of 
its inhabitants, its universal and complete harmony — 
no difference of judgment, no discordance of senti- 
ment, no alienation or coldness of affection ; its ex- 
emption from mental and physical infirmity, its 
beatific vision, its pure and exalted fellowship, the 
variety of its enjoyments, the perpetuity of its bliss. 

Mr. T. sympathized with apprentices and young 
men serving as business-assistants in their trials and 
dangers. He thus admonishes one of these, a friend 
of his own : " In general, the first set that is made on 
a boy when he goes to business is to get him to give 
credit, and to lend small sums without acquainting 
his master. To induce him to do this, it will be 
argued, ' Surely there can be no harm in it? I will 
pay you before long ; the master cannot know ; and, 
as it will oblige me, and be no loss to him, w^hy not 
let me have it ? Nor need you enter it either, for I will 
pay you so soon, it is not worth while,' All this looks 
very plausible ; the credit is given, and given once, 
how can it be refused a second time, or how can it be 
refused to others whom they may tell ? Some, no 
doubt, might be honest and pay it, others would not. 
You ask them ; they put it off ; you are afraid to tell 
the master ; so they would have it ; and how is it to 
end ? ! beware of this snare. I knew, last year 

in , a nice young lad who so deeply hurt his 

character by a thing of that sort, that I think it will 
never recover. Character is very precious. Be civil, 
be com-teous, be obliging to all, I do not mean that 
assumed shop -civility, which continues just so long 
as they are gaining, and then changes into incivility 



Ill 

and unkindness ; but that desire to please which is 
the essence of true courtesy, and which, while it costs 
nothing, makes others happy, and leaves a sweet 
savour on the mind. Study also to gratify your 
master in everything lawful. The directions of a 
master, while consistent with reason and religion, 
should be sacredly attended to." 

Apprentices would do well to remember that, ac- 
cording to the meaning of the term, (from apprendre, 
to learn) during this period of their life, they must, 
like earnest students, make up their minds cheerfully 
to submit to inconveniencies, endure w^hat they con- 
sider hardships, and encounter difficulties, in order 
to wmter the handicraft or business, animated by the 
assurance that the enjoyments of after-life will, with 
the Divine blessing, amply reward their pains. Mean- 
while, it is incumbent on the master to render the lot 
of the apprentice, sufficiently try'^ing at best, as happy 
as may be; having due regard to the anxieties of 
parents, the indescribable feelings of a lad away from 
under a mother's eye and deprived of her tender 
care, and to the treatment he would claim for his own 
son in similar circumstances. 

As the annual Conference drew near, Mr. T. desired 
the privilege of attending it, assigning, as his reasons : 
'' It would teach me wit, if it were not my own fault, 
and would revive my spirit to see our dear assembled 
veterans." 



CHAP. IV. 

1826-1828.— DUBLIN. 



I 



In cities and large towns, unquestionably, the manner 
of Gospel preaching requires the most skilful 
adaptations. There are to be found accomplished scho- 
lars, men of taste and refinement, who can receive 
little profit, — unless, indeed, the pride of intellect be 
subdued by grace, — from a ministry, no matter how 
practical, that is not distinguished by intelligence and 
research, together with those various qualities sought 
after by persons of superior minds and attainments. 
There also ai^e to be found infidels and sceptics of 
various grades, all exercising a baneful influence in 
their circles ; an influence which will live in its bitter 
results after they are dead : gifted men, it may be, — 
men of no mean acquirements in literature and science, 
— but whose knowledge is desecrated ; who sneer at 
what is sacred, and labour to sap the foimdations of 
truth and virtue. To reach their case, and to preserve 
others from contamination, how needful that the Gos- 
pel minister be qualified to " contend earnestly*' and 
successfully "for the faith once delivered to the 
saints." 

In large and populous towns and cities there is 
great variety of character and occupation : a consider- 
able proportion of the inhabitants, perhaps the 



113 

majority, is comprised of the working classes, — 
those who have to earn their bread by the sweat 
of their brow. " The poor have the Gospel 
preached to them," and it should be so preached 
as to suit their capacities, their condition, their neces- 
sities. Then the case of those whose labour is more 
mental than manual is to be provided for in the pub- 
lic ministry, those who have an eager appetite, a 
craving for intellectual improvement, but whose occu- 
pation gives them little or no time for mental culture. 
These are to be fed *' with knowledge and under- 
standing." 

In such places are to be found the wealthy, those 
who are rich by inheritance, or those who have risen 
to opulence by commercial diligence and entei^rise. 
Such are to be admonished of the danger of riches — 
that it is next to impossible for a rich man to enter the 
Kingdom of God.-i^ They are to be reminded that 
riches are *' uncertain" and unsatisfying; that there- 
fore the possessor of them must not trust in them ; 
they are to be charged to be '' rich in good works, 
ready to distribute, willing to communicate. " They 
are to be cautioned against ''the deceitfulness of 
riches ;"t because they promise happiness and security, 
but bring perplexity, care, fear, vexation, peril, — and 
thus, like Judas, who was corrupted, aye, ruined by 
them, they kiss but to betray. These truths, unpa- 
latable to rich men, must be enunciated frequently 
and fearlessly by the minister of God, if he would be 
pure from tlieir blood. 

*Mat, xix. 24. +Mat. xiii. 22. 



114 

Here also are to be found the proud, the gay, the 
vain, since the marts of merchandize and the em- 
poriums of wealth are sure to be at once the source and 
centre of the fashions of the country and of the day. 
Here the votaries of fashion are most numerous and 
enthusiastic. On her worshippers, reason, argument, 
satire are spent in vain. What anxiety is felt, what 
hom's are squandered, that one of her imperious rules 
may not be violated ! What lavish expenditm^e of 
money is incessantly demanded to procure offerings 
for her shiine ! What rational and immortal being 
can pay this homage without intolerable mental bon- 
dage and degradation ! But who has corn-age to make 
war against this tyranny ? Who will " rise up " for 
God " against the evil-doers ?" Who will make a 
stand *' against the workers of iniquity?" Who, if 
the minister of Chi^ist does not ? It is his province 
to declare, with solemn emphasis, that " the fashion 
of this world passeth away;" that money is a talent, 
the use of which must be accounted for in the day of 
judgment ; that day when " the lofty looks shall be 
humbled, and the haughtiness of the children of men 
shall be bowed down." 

Here again are to be found multitudes whose 
daily calling exposes them to subtle and dangerous 
temptations ; temptations perhaps unsuspected and 
unperceived, but all the more dangerous for that 
reason. Men in the same branch of trade, for ex- 
ample; men once on terms of intimacy it may be, if 
they are not allied by personal kindred, or if neither 
acquaintances or relations, still rivals in business ! One 
of these employs successful means to secure attention 



115 

and custom : no expense is spared to attract the 
public eye, to impress the public mind. His object 
is attained. What envies, jealousies, suspicions, and 
even hatred, are thus awakened in the heart of his 
competitor! With what eagerness do they contend 
for the prize of public favour, a prize which, when 
one has won, is sure to make the other a prey to the 
basest passions and purposes ! Here is occasion, — and 
how constant such occasions in places of commerce,—- 
for the spiritual watchman to sound an alarm : to de- 
fine envy ; to expose its evils ; to prescribe its remedy. 
How correct the picture of an envious man, as drawn 
by Bishop Hall : " He is an enemy to God's favours, 
if they fall beside himself ; the best nurse of ill-fame ; 
a man of the worst diet, for he consumes himself, and 
delights in pining ; a thorn hedge covered with net- 
tles ; a peevish interpreter of good things ; and no 
other than a lean and pale carcass quickened with a 
iiend." Hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness are 
properly associated with envy; and when a person 
becomes the object of these deadly passions, the 
tongue will be set on fire of Hell to blast his reputa- 
tion, to wound his feelings, and, if possible, to com- 
pass his ruin. Hence the necessity for ministerial 
denunciation of the sins of the tongue, and of earnest 
exhortations to keep that unruly member under need- 
ful restraint, though a severe bit and bridle were 
required for the purpose. 

Extravagant dispositions and habits will not unfre- 
quently call for reproof and correction in such places. 
The stimulus to profuse outlay, that there may be the 
appearance of property and respectability, — in imitation 



116 

of the wealth and elegance of other citizens, — is power- 
fully and extensively operative. Meanwhile much of 
this show is fictitious; the splendid equipage, the 
country house, the rich furniture, the sumptuous 
entertainments, all at the expense of truth and upright- 
ness, being procured by schemes of cozenage and 
dishonour. Such disreputable arts, such flagrant, 
though disguised, violations of the Eighth Command- 
ment, demand from the pulpit unsparing exposm-e 
jand warning; and the inculcation of those plain 
duties — " Owe no man anything but love ;" " Render 
to all their due." How well if all to whom the above 
remarks are applicable would, in time, ponder the 
adage of the mother of Philip Melancthon : 

" If more than your field 
Can produce, you consume — 
Keckon ruin, at least, 
If not hanging, your doom.* 

In large manufacturing and commercial towns, the 
temptations of the young are varied and powerful, 
their dangers imminent, and their claims upon minis- 
terial solicitude, consequently, affecting and urgent. 
What opportunities and inducements to mingle in the 
company of the vain, the frivolous, the profane, the 
licentious ! To read books of fiction- — gratifying the 
fancy, it may be, but vitiating the mind and corrupt- 
ing the heart ! To throw off parental restraint, to 
despise parental authority, to indulge the pride of 
independence ! What temptation to violate the holy 
Sabbath! And how many excuses will be pleaded 
for its violation — recreation so necessary after the 

* D'Aubigne. 



117 

week's confinement — and so fine an opportunity to 
study and admire the works of nature and art! 
Meanwhile the house and worship of God are ne- 
glected, the Sabbath is made a day of traffic, a day of 
pleasure, often a day of toil and fatigue ; thus turning 
aside the holy day from the original design of its 
institution, in open and daring defiance of the Divine 
will and law ! How many evils follow in the wake of 
Sabbath desecration! *'0f all the persons," says 
that distinguished judge, Sir Matthew Hale, ** who 
were convicted of capital crimes while I was on the 
bench, I found few only who would not confess, on 
enquuy, that they began their career of wickedness 
by a neglect of the duties of the Sabbath, and vicious 
conduct on that day." 

Then in these places how numerous and fascinating 
the opportunities for what imagination paints as re- 
spectable and lucrative gambling ! Here a lottery* 
there a billiard-room, — but to entrap, to bewitch, to 
spoil ! A great painter has admirably illustrated this 
propensity when he exliibits the soldier on the ground 
engaged in gambling at the very moment the decision 
was taking that the Son of God should be put to 
death. They were too much absorbed to look up, or 
take any interest in the scene ! 

Not to dwell on the melancholy fact, that the snares 
against which Solomon so often raises his warning 
voice, in tones distinct and palpable, are here so 
numerous — snares into which many an unwary youth 
has fallen to rise no more : " For the lips of a strange 
woman drop as an honey comb, and her mouth is 
smoother than oil : who forsaketh the guide of her 



118 

youth, and the covenant of her God. For her house 
inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. 
I beheld among the simple ones a young man void of 
understanding passing through the street near her 
<;orner ; with her much fair speech she caused him to 
yield ; with the flattering of her lips she forced him. 
He goeth after her straightway, as an ox to the 
slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; 
till a dart strike through his liver, as a bird hasteth 
to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life." 

How varied and enticing are other sources of un- 
hallowed pleasure I The flaming placard, and the 
newspaper advertisement, constantly announce some 
new attraction ; something of which the multitude 
speaks with enthusiasm, and which it would be vulgar 
and unfashionable not to have seen ! What great 
harm to go for once ? Although conscience speaks in 
accents not to be misunderstood, as to the folly 
and danger of a single compliance. Theatrical 
amusements are among the most enchanting and 
seductive, as they are the most pernicious. Our 
Lord's words are a sufficient refutation of the argu- 
ments usually advanced in favour of the stage : 
*' The tree is known by its fruit." The fruit 
is notoriously evil; and therefore the tree itself is 
corrupt. The fact that persons seldom justify the 
theatre as it is, but as it might be, or as it was de- 
signed to be, ought to suffice for its condemnation. 
Persons talk of reforming the theatre. It has been 
tried ; and the question is now settled that a theatre 
loses its attractions so soon as it is reformed. 

But what are the fruits of this tree ? Money is 



119 

needlessly, and, therefore, sinfully expended; the 
imagination is polluted, the taste is vitiated, the pas- 
sions are inflamed ; and then follow licentiousness, 
poverty, wretchedness, eternal misery. But this is 
not all. The play-goer exerts a haneful influence 
upon others. The evil is prolific. Its name is Legion ; 
for the pleasing vice cannot be indulged, such is its 
nature, and so Satan would have it, without deadly 
consequences, that are relative as well as personal; 
consequences which are multiplied and aggravated as 
time rolls on, and which, therefore, as to their number 
and magnitude, are beyond all power of calculation. 

In order to meet the necessities of the various 
classes and circumstances of the population in such 
places, it will at once be evident that the pubhc mi- 
nistry of the Word must not only instruct and please^ 
and thus prove acceptable to the intelligent and re- 
fined, but it must adapt itself to the masses ; it must 
deal largely with the conscience; it must affect the 
heart ; it must move the will ; or otherwise few, if any, 
souls will be saved from death. 

Mr. Tackaberry was appointed to the Dublin Cir- 
euit at the Conference of 1826, with the Kev. Messrs. 
Samuel Wood and John Stuart. The morning after 
his arrival in the city, he made a renewed and solemn 
dedication of himself to God ; and thenceforward gave 
himself to ministerial and pastoral duties in the spirit 
of unreserved consecration. His own words will best 
describe the freedom from mental dissipation and 
distraction, and from uneasy fear, with which he en- 
tered upon his work: "I never found coming into 
this city take so little effect upon my mind. I scarcely 



look at anything in it, but walk on as unconcernedly 
as if I were in Tomagaddy fields. I have been giving 
myself afresh to God this morning, and trust He will 
accept the offering, and be with me. I have not now 
the fears with which I was agitated when I first re- 
ceived the appointment. Thank God they are gone." 
August 28. He writes : " Thank the Lord, I get 
on very smoothly up to this. I preached but once 
yesterday for a wonder. Mr. Myles, one of the oldest 
preachers in the world, filled my place at twelve, in 
Abbey Street. I hope I shall like this city much 
better than I thought I would." And then he relates 
an incident which instructively exhibits the aim of his 
ministry : " One of the local preachers of this city 
told me a circumstance on Saturday which en- 
couraged me a good deal. 'I went,' he said, *to 
Whitefriar Street, on the Sunday evening, to hear 
you, determined to criticize every word. When you 
named your text, 2 Cor. xiii. 5, Examine yourselves 
whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves : 
Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ 
is in you, except ye be reprobates? I thought I 
should observe closely, for that was one of my texts, 
and one upon which I had thought much ; but I was 
soon driven to look at my own heart, and almost 
beaten from my purpose. However, I soon rallied, 
resolved again to criticize ; but, before you were half 
done, seeing your object was to save souls, I forgot 
my errand, and criticized no more.' This he related 
before three others and myself, and finished by say- 
ing, I ' converted him from criticizing.' You can 
scarcely conceive how much this has encouraged me. 



121 

I am thankful for the happiness I feel, and do hope 
to be more devoted to God than I have ever been yet." 
The direct aim of his preaching was highly appre- 
ciated,— no mean proof of their good sense and piety, 
— by the Dublin people. This he was soon made to 
feel, and it had a salutary influence upon his heart 
and ministry, of which the following extract gives 
evidence : "We walked a good deal through the city 
to-day, and then took a look at it from the top of 
Nelson's Pillar, a place on which I had never been 
before. I have come now to my room to try to get on 
the mountain top, and to obtain a view of a more 
glorious city : ! yes, more glorious far to me ; for 
in this city I have none inheritance, no, not so much 
as to set my foot on, save the loan of a couple of 
rooms for a few months ; but O ! 

* There is my house, my portion fair. 
My treasure and my heart are there, 

And my abiding home ; 
For me my elder brethren stay, 
And angels beckon me away, 

And Jesus bids me come !' 

And I bless the Lord my heart often exults' while I 
review it, and never more than at some times since I 
came to Dublin. ! the Lord is very good to me : I 
thank Him, I love Him, I hope to be more fully His 
than ever. I think I shall like Dublin better than I 
expected. There are some precious people — several 
praying souls in it ; and not a few who love plain, un- 
varnished, experimental preaching. I never preached 
plainer in all my life than these last three weeks." 
Next month he writes again : " I know it will do you 

M 



122 

good to hear I am very well and getting on very 
sweetly as respects myself. There are many spiri- 
tual people in the Dublin society ; persons whom I 
will get very fond of. I see nothing else in the world 
like Methodism. Glory be to God for it. Our con- 
gregations are large and very attentive. Having met 
various classes for tickets this fortnight, I praise God 
for our people." 

His next communication states a fact, which opens 
up a question full of interest, but which it may not be 
so easy to solve : "' We have had two or three re- 
markable instances lately of persons given over, 
recovering again in answer to prayer. One of these 
cases has excited considerable obser^^ation, and I hope 
led many to have more faith in God." True, the 
prayer of faith saves the sick, and the Lord raises 
him up. But faith is founded on knowledge; it 
cannot be legitimately exercised, prayer cannot be 
successfully offered, except in accordance with the 
Divine will, as revealed, " This is the confidence that 
we have in Him, that if we ask anything according 
to His will, He heareth us, and if we know that He 
hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have 
the petitions that we desired of Him."* The diffi- 
culty is to know whether it is the Divine will that the 
sick person in question should recover. It is not the 
subject of a written revelation. It is appointed unto 
all men once to die. Then how can it be known that 
that restoration in this case is agreeable to the mind 
of God ? How else than by a distinct intimation to 

if 

*lJohnv. 14, 15. 



123 

that effect from His Spirit to the heart ; an intimation 
understood, credited, laid hold of, by the suppliant 
who has devotional intimacy and power with Him ? 

Mr. T. proceeds to relate : *' We had recently in 
this city a Mr. Smith from London, a Baptist minis- 
ter. He held meetings in our chapel in Abbey 
Street, in order to form a Bethel Union Society for 
the instruction of sailors. In his speeches he told us 
many remarkable anecdotes, one of which I think will 
do me good as long as I live. At the conclusion, he 
stated that he had been to sea himself in early life , 
that he was a wicked navy officer for many years ; 
and that he attributed, under God, his preservation 
from danger in battle, &c., to the prayers of a pious 
mother. This reached my heart." The minister 
accounted for his preservation otherwise than by the 
absolute " decrees of God," as Mr. Wesley did that 
of the Kev, John Newton, of Olney, when he read his 
autobiography. " I gave a second reading," he says, 
'' to that lively book, Mr. Newton's account of his 
own experience. There is something very extraordi- 
nary therein ; but one may account for it without a 
a jot of predestination. I doubt not but his, as well 
as Colonel Gardiner's conversion, was an answer to 
his mother's prayers." ^ 

In October Mr. T. informs one of his brothers : " I 
have had sweet foretastes of Heaven this week. I am 
longing to be holy. I find little ground is gained 
without much labour in prayer ; and this is sometimes 
hard work. May I thus labour for the meat that 
endureth unto everlasting life !" It may be '' hard 

* Works, vol. 3, p. 375. 



124 

work" to fix the mind intently; to recal it when it 
wanders ; to resist temptations, in such case, to dis- 
couragement and unbelief; to exercise the ful] 
assurance of faith, under circumstances unfavourable 
almost to any degree of faith, may indeed be '*hard 
work." But *' he that regardeth the wind will not 
sow ;" and the hardy husbandman sows in hope. To 
despair of a crop would paralize all his energies. O I 
what an abundant yield is uniformly vouchsafed by 
the Lord of the harvest when the Christian perse' 
veringly '' labours in prayer !" 

Then follows the impressive admonition : " Are 
you seeking God ? I have stood by the death-bed of 
a young man since I came to Dublin who was taken 
off with a few days' illness, only two months married^ 
and but twenty-one years old ! It was an affecting 
sight. O ! how he warned his younger brothers, and 
promised to serve God should he recover!" 

The same month he thus pom's out his heart to an 
afflicted Christian friend : " The pious Baxter used 
to say an affliction is lost when we are not made 
better by it. I do trust you will preach to us such 
lessons of patience, of resignation, and when you 
shall have fully recovered this, of gratitude, as you 
have never done before. In Heaven we shall know 
more fully than we can now ; and I believe we shall 
then see that all these painful weaning fits were in 
mercy. Tell me, do you praise the Lord more or 
less than you used to do ? Do you look more at 
Christ and Heaven, than at self and the world ? I 
often feel greatly surrounded with mercies. Every- 
thing here has turned out more favourably than I ex- 



125 

pected. The people bear plain preaching well ; and in 
general we have good congregations. Although I can- 
not read as much as I wish, still I have many oppor- 
tunities for improvement that I could not have on a 
country circuit Our strangers' friend breakfast 
meeting is very profitable. It is held the last Sun- 
day of every month. The preachers, travelling and 
local, the leaders, with the wives of all, are present. 
The superintendent presides, a subject for conversa- 
tion having been announced the week before, on which 
all present are at liberty to speak. The meetings gene- 
rally are very edifying. The subject last month was 
Romans v. 1 . Many delightful remarks were made 
on justification by faith." 

Next month he gives the following narration to his 
mother, with filial unreserve : " From occurrences 
which came to my knowledge recently, I have been 
encouraged to go forward, and humbly to hope that 
the Lord will continue to make use of me as an in- 
strument of good to immortal souls. On Sunday, 
7th instant, I dined with a pious couple. After din- 
ner, they introduced me to a young lad who, for years, 
had been seeking the Lord, but had not obtained a 
sense of pardon. After speaking freely and fully to 
him, we went to prayer. Two or three of us prayed 
alternately for some time ; and, thanks to our God, 
he answered for himself, and enabled this steady 
seeker to rejoice in His love. He is a distributer of 
tracts, and will, I trust, be the means of good to 
others. For years he has been a modest, steady 
youth, and is now very happy. Two or three persons, 
partly in despair, have joined my Tuesday eleven 



126 

o'clock class, and, though not yet as happy as I could 
wish, or as I thmk they will be, are nevertheless en- 
couraged and comforted, and I trust will make well- 
wearing Christians. Two others, who were back- 
sliders, have also joined lately, and are recovering 
their first love. Another, daughter to a very good 
woman in this city, and who had been in a state of 
despair, came on Tuesday week to my class, instead 
of going to the one in which she usually met.- She 
opened her whole heart in the class room, and added 
that when she told this to her leader he would not 
believe her. I spoke to her at some length, told some 
of my own sorrowful experience of former years, en- 
couraged her to come to Jesus just then, and went to 
prayer. She did not, while in the class-room, inform 
us that her sorrow w^as turned into joy, but she told 
it in her own class last Tuesday ; and her mother 
says there is a wondrous change in her in every re- 
spect — in words, looks, all ! I have also received 
different letters since I came to Dublin, either re- 
questing spiritual direction, or professing to have 
received good under some of my little sermons, and 
encouraging me especially to preach to backsliders. 
These things are cheering; and while we have no- 
thing very great as yet, I do thank my Heavenly 
Father that matters are as they are. I am more 
thankful for what some would consider little things 
than I was years ago. Nothing now is little to me 
which in any measure furthers the salvation of a soul ; 
an immortal, blood-redeemed soul. 

" In addition to all this, — greater mercy to me than 
all I have mentioned yet, — I can generally look up with 



127 

much sweetness and unshaken confidence to God as 
my Father, as my God ; and am sometimes favoured 
with such visits of His love, such views of my heavenly 
inheritance, as lift my mind above all things below. 
! how shall we sufficiently love God ! Sometimes, 
when I am very happy, I cry out, ' When I get to 
Heaven I will satisfy myself then ! ' 

'« C and I read an hour and a-half together, at 

Greek and Hebrew, in my room every morning. I do 
not expect him to be of much use in the world as a 
Methodist ; but I do think, if he goes into the church, 
he will be useful there. Monday, November 20. — ^We 
had a Love-feast at Gravel Walk last night. Amongst 
some things which filled me with thankful joy was 
the experience of a soldier whose backslidings were 
healed in that house, a few weeks ago, while I was 
preaching on Psalm xl. 1,2, 3. This I did not know 
before. It w^as a very good meeting." 

Thanksgiving to God is as much the Christian's duty 
as any other — -more so in the Divine estimation than 
some others, one would infer, since it is more frequently 
enjoined by Scripture precept and example. And yet 
how many of the people of God might, with greater 
reason, make the confession of the saintly Fletcher : '' I 
am poor in nothing but thanksgiving." Thanksgiving 
is defined by Dr Barrow to be : " 1. Aright apprehen- 
sion of benefits conferred. 2. A faithful retention of 
benefits in the memory, and frequent reflections upon 
them. 3. A due esteem and valuation of benefits. 
4. A reception of those benefits with a willing mind, a 
vehement affection. 5. Due acknowledgment of our 
obligations. 6. Endeavours of real compensation ; or, 



128 

as it respects the Divine Being, a willingness to serv^e 
and exalt Him. 7. Esteem, veneration, and love of 
the benefactor." 

A seven-paged letter to his mother, dated January 
19, 1827, enumerating, amplifying, and adoring God 
for mercies received, commences Mr. T.'s home cor- 
respondence for that year. An extract is given, — the 
artless and glowing effusion of his heart, — in which 
many will soon recognize the likeness of a much- 
loved friend : 

" Listen to your son while he tells you some of his 
causes of rejoicing, some of your own also, and then 
some of our mercies as a family ; and when we have 
reviewed them, we will praise our God together. 
Here I sit at this moment crowned with loving-kind- 
ness. I have all I want now. To-morrow I leave to 
my God. I have books on my table and shelf in 
which I greatly delight, though indeed I read little 
but the Word of God in the different languages. I 
am sweetly, constantly happy in Jesus. My hope of 
glory is animating; my joy is even, sometimes it 
abounds ; and my peace flows as a river. My work 
is my pleasm-e, my delight. True, it is laborious, 
but Divine strength is proportioned to my day. Six 
years back I would not believe that I should ever 
have the constitution God has given me. I believe 
I have preached oftener than many men in Dublin 
the last six months, and visited sick innumerable in 
every description of complaint, and in every sort of 
place ; and, thanks to my God, have not been one day 
unable to fill my appointments since I saw you. 



129 

This is ALL of God. Acknowledging it, I offer the 
Hfe He has preserved afresh to Him. 

*' The people amongst whom my lot is cast, not only 
bear with me, but I am sure many of them love and 
pray for me, and thankfully receive my weak, but 
well-meant, efforts to do them good. I cannot say 
great things of revivals as yet ; but I am learning to 
be thankful if the Lord condescend to use me in any 
instance to do even the very least good ; and I bless 
Him he has given me some evidence the last few 
months that I am not labouring in vain. Our band 
meetings, which, after much deliberation and prayer, 
were commenced a few weeks ago, are full of promise. 
Not a few are hungering and thirsting after entire 
sanctification ; and several of these are amongst the 
oldest and steadiest members of our society. Here 
are mercies, but the half is not told. Shall I stop 
here? If I do, the half is not told ! No, not the half! 

* Infinite thy mercies are, 
Beneath their weight I cannot move ; 
O ! 'tis more than I can bear, 
The sense of all thy love !' 

'' And has my dearest mother no mercies of her own 
for which to raise her Ebenezer ? True, your afflic- 
tions have been many, various, sore, and long! But 
have you not had strong consolation ? And can you 
not now look forward to the milder clime, the better 
country, where the inhabitant shall never say I am 
sick ? Om* God is too good to afflict without neces- 
sity, and too wise to err. And mother has friends 
who would share her afflictions, if that would lighten 
them. 



130 

*' Shall we now review our family mercies? To 
note but one. Time was when mother, father, and 
all your children were walking in darkness and had 
no light ; no saving knowledge of God. But ! the 
mercy of mercies ! God who commanded the light 
to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts ; 
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God 
in the face of Jesus Christ ! The tear of gratitude 
falls while I write. This blessed light has shone 
into the hearts of mother, father, Fossey, John, and 
Jane ; and will yet shine, yea is now shining, into the 
hearts of Henry, William, and Bessy. Did I say one 
mercy ? Why, this one includes all the rest. Let 
us but love God here, so that we may be together in 
Heaven hereafter : and all is well, well for ever I 
Hallelujah! 

*' But you are distressed for our dear John, because 
he is cast down at the apprehension of a division 
among the American preachers. I assure you his 
feelings on that subject make me love him twice as 
much as I ever loved him before. Here is practical 
proof that he has the soul of a Methodist preacher. 
Methodism threatened with division, division among 
her ministers; and he unconcerned? If that were so, 
I should think veiy little of him ministerially, although 
my much-loved brother. Suppose there were cause 
to fear a division in the Irish Conference, do you 
think I would not feel ? I would feel more for such 
a calamity than for any thing else in this world. But 
he has no fears till the next General Conference, and 
by that time the Lord will have taught him that 
though the Ark may totter, it shall not fall. Let us 



131 



together. O, if we must strive, then let us strive to 
praise Him in every thing, and ever make the best 
of life," 

Honest self-examination, to ascertain the extent to 
which we resemble persons eminent for sanctity, and 
where the resemblance fails, could not but prove pro- 
fitable. Mr. T. exercised himself thus unto godliness : 
** I spent half an hour this morning," he observes 
" in meditating on the character and example of Mr. 
Fletcher. Were he in my place, and under my cir- 
cumstances, how would he act ? How would he act 
m in public ? How in families ? How in his study ? 
How in the closet ? From him I was led to look at 
the example of the Lord Jesus. ! how I was 
ashamed and humbled ! I longed to be like Him.'' 
This letter he concludes : ' ' We are expecting a 
greater work of God than we have seen yet. Pray 
for us. Saturday Morning, Dec. 8 : — Well, and pray- 
ing to be thankfuV 

He soon began to realize his expectations. Jan. 1, 
1827, in a kind of journal-epistle, he writes : '* Dec. 
•24, the Sabbath : — Eose a while before day, walked to 
Abbey Street, and preached at eight o'clock, on Heb. 
vi. 1, to a congregation who wished to hear concern- 
ing the deep things of God. In retm^ning through 
Dame Sti^eet, saw the fire blazing through Sir A. B. 
King's house. How awful ! £22,000 worth of pro- 
perty consuming now, where not a spark of fire was to 
be seen when I walked by an horn* and twenty-five 
minutes before ! How uncertain are earthly things ! 
Preached again in the evening, on Jeremiah viii. 22 ; 



1S2 

walked home through the crowd in Dame Street. 
The house still burning. Some lives had been lost. 
Dec. 25 :— Awoke at half-past three, rose a little before 
fom\ The first thought on awakening was *My 
meditation of Him shall be sweet.' An immense 
crowd in Whitefriar Street at four. I looked at them 
a while, and thanked God for a people disposed to 
worship Him at such an hour; then walked to Gravel 
Walk, and preached at six. Heard Mr. M*Afee 
preach a very excellent Sermon in Abbey Street at 
twelve. I preached there in the evening, a short ser- 
mon, on 1 John iii. 5. Dec. 31, Sunday :^ — Preached 
in Gravel Walk at eight, on the subject of holiness. 
The people drank in the Word of Life. In Abbey 
Street, at twelve, on 2 Sam. xiv. 14 ('We must needs 
die,' &c.) The Lord gave me, not only a word to 
speak, but the hearts of the people. I never wit- 
nessed such general feeling imder a sermon of mine 
since I came to Dublin. To me it was very solemn 
to see hundreds affected ta tears. O may the seed 
not be sown on the way-side ! 

'' At half-past eight our watch-night commenced in 
Whitefriar Street. I ^retired after midnight to my 
room, under a deep sense of the mercies of God ; felt 
pleased to hear the joy-bells welcoming the new year, 
while I commended my soul to God, and retired to 
rest. January 1 : — Abundant cause for thankfulness 
all this day. Every hour may I feel Heaven nearer 
and more desirable. Preached in Gravel Walk this 
evening, on sanctification, to a pleasingly attentive 
congregation. May God revive His work ! My love 
to your preachers. I do love them, and hope to be 



133 

with them for ever. I wish all my dear family, in- 
cluding Fossey himself, a very happy new year — that 
is a ve7y holy one.'' 

An important era in his life now rapidly approached, 
namely, his ordination to the office and work of the 
Christian ministry. This took place at the ensuing 
Conference in Belfast. The reader will have been con- 
vinced by this time that he gave " full proof " of his fit- 
ness for that office. An extract from another journal- 
letter, written in the midst of the duties and anxieties of 
that, to him, eventful period, — b. letter the overflowing 
of filial affection and solicitude, — exhibits what man- 
ner of spirit he was of, and what was his estimate of 
men and things : 

''July, 2. — Eose early, and had possession of my 
seat, on the Belfast mail, a quarter before seven 
o'clock. Passengers agreeable : the few who were on 
the back seats were Protestants, as was also the guard. 
Two of the men were English, and an interesting 
Scotch girl sat on my right hand. The country for 
the first sixty miles disappointed me a little. But 
for tlie last twenty, from Hillsborough to Belfast, it 
is exceedingly beautiful." The part of the country 
exceeding in cultivation and beauty, though certainly 
not in fertility, is that inhabited by the Protestant 
settlers. On this, reader, you will make your own 
comments. "Here, — from Hillsborough to Bel- 
fast, — the handsome country seat, the neat cottages, 
thinly scattered, or collected in clusters and forming 
villages ; on the one hand, the lovely waving wheat ; 
on the other, the promising flax, oats and potatoes — 
the riches of a Northern — met the eye, with ever and 
anon a large field covered with pieces of linen, and 



134 

surrounded with watch-houses ; while the view on the 
right, frequently bounded by the British channel, and 
on the left by proudly rising mountains, made the 
scene more than delightful." mk 

In imitation of Andrew, John i. ; of Philip, Acts 
viii. ; and of our great exemplar, John iv. ; who 
evinced a yearning anxiety for the salvation of indi- 
viduals whom they met, " I spoke closely," continues 
Mr. T. " to the amiable little Scotch gh^l about Jesus. 
At first there was no appearance of feeling, but after 
a little her attention became deeply fixed. She 
acknowledged frankly she knew nothing about these 
matters ; and, alas, her ignorance was but too plainly 
demonstrated by her answers. I spoke strongly, 
plainly and tenderly, for more than an hour, pointed 
her to the sinner's Friend, and exhorted her to be the 
messenger of peace to her father and mother. Were 
it only on her account, I am not sorry for my j oinney 
to Belfast. I felt such freedom in speaking, such 
earnest longing for her salvation, that I have more 
than a hope that the Word was not spoken in vain. 
At nine the town was descried, and in half an hour I 
was hailed by some of my brethren who were looking 
out for me. 

" July 3. — Went to the Conference at ten. Messrs, 
Price, Gillman and myself were called in a few mi- 
nutes, and for two hours and a half underwent such 
an examination as I • had no conception of, and as 
several of the preachers told me they never knew 
young men to undergo before. My name standing 
first of the three on the minutes, most of the ques- 
tions were first put to me, which, of course, made my 
place the most trying. The remainder of the day 



135 

was spent chiefly in the examination of character. 
Surely it is an awful place! At half-past seven, 
Brothers Price and Gillraan, with myself, waited on 
Mr. Watson (the President) and Mr. Bunting at their 
lodging. They remained in close conversation with 
us till a quarter to ten. They are indeed great men, 
and men of God." 

After describing some public buildings, he observes : 
*' The Academical Institution, or Presbyterian College, 
built A.D. 1810, is a large unfinished edifice, capable 
of receiving 120 students. The front looks compara- 
tively neat. It appears the Government will allow 
nothing to the Institution till the Arian principles are 
expunged ; and this is not likely soon to be the case. 
Northern Presbyterianism is deluged with Arianism ! 

"The Methodist females here are very plain in 
their dress. There are hundreds in town from the 
different societies for twenty miles round, and all that 
I have seen, whether of the Belfast or the adjoining 
societies, are very plain in their appearance ; but 
many of them as neat as Quakers. Many salu- 
tations from our preachers as we walk. In my eyes 
they are a blessed set of men. Thank God for them. 
I am increasing in affection for them every year. 
Several of the elders are absent ; some poorly, others 
gone to their reward : very many of the present Con- 
ference are comparatively young men. Mr. Gustavus 
Armstrong, the oldest preacher in Ireland, sent a 
letter to the Conference to-day, enclosing £100, to sus- 
tain and extend our work in this country. 

** The young men to be received into full con- 
nexion with the Conference took their stand in the 
front of the gallery a little before six. Never did I 



136 

see a house of worship so packed before. Atheists, 
Deists, Socinians, Arians, Papists, Episcopalian 
Presbyterian and Wesleyan Protestants, including 
the Seceder and Covenanter, were eye and ear wit- 
nesses. The President opened the service with the 
446th hymn : 

' Jesus, the word of mercy give, 
And let it swiftly run !' 

Messrs* Wood and Mayne then prayed delightfully 
indeed. An appropriate and affecting address on the 
nature and importance of the Christian ministry 
having been delivered, the President called on 
P. French, F. Tackaberry, H. Price, and J. B. 
Gillman, to give an account of their conversion, call 
to the ministry, and present Christian experience. 
The attention of the overcrowded audience was now 
more arrested and fixed than ever. Deep feeling was 
evinced, many tears were shed, and throughout 
the house fervently-devout breathings ascended to 
Heaven. The President proceeded to ask the usual 
questions, which having been answered, it was moved 
by Mr. Roberts, from Bristol, seconded by Mr. Wood, 
and supported by Mr. Bunting, that these brethren be 
received into full connexion with the Methodist Con- 
ference, the whole Conference expressing their ap- 
proval by standing up. Another hymn having been 
sung, the service concluded with prayer, by the 
Eev. Messrs. Mason and Bimting. But ! such a 
prayer as that of Mr. Bunting ! Never did I hear its 
like ! An overwhelming torrent of eloquence ! Of 
eloquence pure, simple, sublime, devotional, evangeli- 
cal — laying hold on Christ, and bringing the blessing 



137 

down I We were much affected. We retired, solemnly 
feeling that the vows of the Lord were upon us. 

** July 5. — Conference goes on in great harmony. 
Mr, Watson evinces deep thought, unusual grasp of 
mind, much coolness, is as thin as a skeleton, and 
seldom smiles. He is not very prepossessing at first, 
but improves as you observe him. Mr. Bunting is 
beautiful in person, amiable in mind, prepossessing 
in appearance, and uncommonly eloquent." 

" I could not get over a reappointment to Dublin 
this year, unless I refused positively. I go back, re- 
solved to live nearer to God, and to preach more than 
ever to the hearts of the people. I greatly respect the 
body of ministers with whom I am united. This 
journal has been written in stolen moments and 
broken scraps of time. My darling mother will thus 
see that I do not forget her." 

Having returned to Dublin, he remarks : '* Our 
Conference ended as it began, in much harmony and 
love. The preachers parted from each other in great 
good hmnour, and with renewed determinations to 
give themselves wholly to the work in which they are 
engaged." 

At first sight these may appear iminteresting facts, 
but, examined more closely, ! how important! How 
vital in relation to their own interests, and the interests 
of the connexion and of the country, that the preachers, 
as here stated, were in the true sense united brethren I 
Not that they thought alike on every subject, although 
upon the essentials of doctrine and discipline they 
were, as the ministers and members of every particular 
Church ought to be, " perfectly joined together in the 



138 

same mind and in the same judgment f but they 
could sing, as perhaps they did : 

" Our bodies may far off remove, 
We still are one in heart,'' 

And they were in great good humour ! About to 
enter their different spheres of health-consuming toil, 
of self-sacrificing labour ; their various fields of con- 
flict with anti- Christian error, with lukewarmness and 
formalism, with all the powers of Hell, — and to qualify 
them for such undertakings they had little to hope 
from the men or the wealth of the world ; still, knowing 
where their strength lay, and how inexhaustible and 
available were their resources, they '' were in great 
good humour !" The faith which staggers not at the 
sure word of promise, a promise especially applicable 
to Ireland, "Every valley shall be exalted; every 
mountain and hill shall be made low ; the crooked 
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain ; 
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all 
flesh shall see the salvation of God together," no doubt 
largely contributed to this holy exultation. It was 
thus the joy of faith. It was the joy of gratitude as 
well, — gratitude that they had been 

" Blest with the scorn of finite good f 

that they had not been permitted to labour in vain 
or spend their strength for nought ; that many, by 
their mouth, had heard and believed the Gospel, who 
otherwise would have perished in ignorance and sin ; 
many, born from above, who should ultimately be 
brought to Glory. Hence did they cheerfully re- 
solve : 



II 



139 

** In a rapture of joy my life I employ, ' 
Tls^e God of my life to proclaim ; 
'Tis worth living for this, to administer bliss 
And salvation in Jesus' name. 
My remnant of days I spend in His praise, 
Who died the whole world to redeem : 
Be they many or few, my days are His due, 
And they all are devoted to Him !" 

July 19, 1827, Mr. T. writes : ** I am getting into 
a sweetly tranquil state of mind since I came from 
the Conference." Then he adopts, as illustrative of 
his own experience, Mr. Fletcher's figure of the keg 
of wine— of little use after travelling, until it gets 
time to settle. '^ But," he continues, *' I have got 
into my hermit's room, and into my track again. I 
have studied more these three days than for two 
weeks before." 

In a letter dated the September following, he no- 
tices some little inconvenience in the way of lodging, 
with the significant remark : '' I am but a pilgrim at 
best;" a reflection often suggested, and naturally tend- 
ing to produce sombre feeling, by the circumstances 
of his calling; but, in his case, and in the case of 
every right-hearted evangelist, uniformly associated 
with buoyant cheerfulness. Of this cheerfulness, the 
Kev. John Wesley himself was an example to all his 
^* sons in the Gospel," of which the 68th Hymn, of 
the present collection, gives evidence, — one of the few 
Hymns of which he was the author,'^- and upon which 
his wholo career is an edifying comment ; a hymn 
which cannot be properly studied without admiration 
of the man, and a desire to imitate such noble qua- 
lities: 

* See Burgess's Hymnology. 



140 

" How happy is the pilgrim's lot ! 
How free from every anxious thought, 
From worldly hope and fear ! 
Confined to neither court nor cell 
His soul disdains on earth to dwell, 
He only sojourns here." 

"I have had some happy hours," proceeds Mr. T., 
" in secret prayer and reading, as also in public, since 
I saw you. I am often full of expectation that we are 
on the eve of gi^eat good. My Tuesday class is still 
increasing. There are now forty names in it. The 
Tuesday night public band-meetings are sometimes 
truly watering seasons. I am growing fonder 
of our people here, and the feeling I believe is 
mutual. Often am I so overcome with gratitude to 
God for His mercies, that I am silent before Him. 
O ! how unspeakable His goodness to me ! It is my 
constant prayer that I may be kept looking at the 
bright side of everything. In this I hope I am gain- 
ing a little ground." 

In another communication, written the same month, 
there is this animating record : " Often this week 
have I been surprised, and melted into thankfulness 
from a sense of the Divine goodness. O! such a 
week as I have spent! Often, while walking the 
streets, I have been so taken up with the love of God 
as to forget myself and all around me. In preaching 
and other public services, I have felt much more at 
home than while in the country. Sometimes the 
Lord blesses me in answer to earnest and expecting 
prayer ; but this week His grace has been descending 
like the dew upon the tender herb, without almost 
any effort of mine. The full attendance of members 
at the public band-meeting, on Tuesday night, was 



141 

most gratifying. Deepening Christian experience 
was very observable." 

His prospects continued to brighten. The week- 
night congregations greatly increased ; and, on the 
evening of September 16, 1827, 'V\niitefriar Street 
Chapel, as Mr. T. phrased it, " was full outside the 
doors !" His text on the occasion was : 2 Tim. iv. 
7, 8, '' I have fought a good fight," &c. 

The following November he relates : " We have 
some move in this city just now. Whether it will 
continue, God only knows. I had to give up preach- 
ing in Gravel Walk, last evening, and go to prayer 
with persons in distress. To-day, at eleven o'clock, 
in my female class, we had a very blessed season. 
While we have had no great noise the last year, our 
Lord has been savingly at work. In my Tuesday 
class alone, eight persons have found peace with 
God, and each is walking consistently with her pro- 
fession. All these are new members. Mr. Baxter's 
Eeformed Pastor, which I have been reading lately, 
is close and searching. It has done me good." 

This ''move "not only continued, but in several 
respects bore the marks of a genuine revival of the 
work of God. A few days after writing the above, 
Mr. T. gives the following account : 

" We have not had such hope of prosperity in Dub- 
lin since I knew it as at present." And no wonder 
when he adds : " Every where I turn, I find the spirit 
of prayer and expectation on the increase. And 
thanks to our prayer-hearing God we have not only 
hopes but drops before the shower. Several have 
been saved at the meetings lately. To-day, at the 
eleven o'clock prayer-meeting, while Mr. Ferguson 



142 

prayed, there was a cry for mercy. Our old preachers, 
Messrs. Smith, Ferguson and Murphy are gloriously 
alive. It is truly delightful and encom-aging to see 
these venerable fathers so zealous, so earnest, and 
themselves so happy in God. If the spirit of prayer 
continue and increase, I do believe we shall soon see 
a remarkable out-pouring of the Holy Spirit." 

Of Baxter's Eeformed Pastor, already mentioned,\, 
Mr T. subsequently speaks thus: " It is a work which^ 
a Gospel minister cannot read without getting great 
good, if his heart be even nearly in the right place." 

His account of the Christmas and watch-night ser- 
vices shows that the spirit of prayer did continue, and 
that Heavenly influences were still vouchsafed: '' On 
Christmas day, old Mr. Smith preached a most in- 
genious sermon to a very crowded audience. There 
was deep attention and a very good feeling: I was 
appointed to preach at the watch-night, which I did, 
with fear and trembling, to the largest congregation 
I ever addressed. Our congregations throughout the 
city are very good. On Tuesday week, in my class, 
one gave an account of the manner in which she ob- 
tained pardoning mercy the Friday before. She was 
not a member of my class, but having sorrowed with 
her, this was an occasion of joy." 

One of his colleagues having been laid aside by 
illness, he had extra duties to perform, ministerial and 
pastoral. Of this increased labour and care, and of 
the state of his own heart, he thus speaks with filial 
freedom: " Blessed work! Thanks to God for such 
work, and for continued health to engage in it. 
Sunday night, Feb. 24 : — Preached this morning in 
Gravel Walk, at half-past seven, to a congregation who 



1 



143 

drank in every word ; and hastened back, after renew- 
ing tickets, to the stranger's friend breakfast-meeting. 
Very profitable conversation. Preached with much 
ease to myself in Abbey street at twelve. Deep at- 
tention. Surely the seed did not all fall by the w^ay- 
side, or on the rock ! But who will bring forth fruit 
with patience ; who will so understand, receive, and 
walk in the truth, as to endure to the end ? I now 
sit at my own desk, surrounded with mercies, and, 
blessed be God, a heart to feel its obligations given 
also. Seldom have I felt so little weary on a Sabbath 
night. My mind in sweet peace, the peace of God I 
Thus circumstanced, my heart flies to my dear family, 
sending up my aspirations with theirs to the Divine 
Throne, although there are fifty miles between ! Well, 
a few, and but a few more days of faithfulness, and 
we meet in our everlasting home above : 

' There we shall see His face, 
And never, never sin ; 
There from the rivers of His grace, 
Drink endless pleasures in.' 

HaUelujah!" 

He proceeds with his epistolary narrative — " Feb. 
12. 1828: — Sunday was amongst my good days. I 
heard two sermons, and preached in the evening, 
with help from above, on Phil. iv. 8. After preaching, 
held a prayer-meeting till past nine. There was 
a gracious movement among the people. Last even- 
ing, my text in Whitefriar Street was Eev. xxii. 17. 
(* The Spirit and the bride say come.') Several 
seemed just ready to accept the invitation. In press- 
ing it with encouragement, my own soul felt pleasure 
and profit 



144 

*' I lately spent part of two days at Island-Bridge 
and Eichmond, looking for ground to bnild two small 
preaching- houses. There is a congregation in each 
place, chiefly composed of soldiers and their wives. 
There is a good work begun in some of their hearts. 
principally through the means of Mr. and Mrs. 
Haughton. 

" On yesterday week I again renewed the study of 
Hebrew which I had discontinued for some time. 
By great manoeuvring I have been able to give it an 
hour every day since, ! how delightful the study 
of God's own Word ! Occasionally, I see or hear of a 
soul pardoned or sanctified. Whether I shall have to 
write of much good done while I am in Dublin, I 
know not." 

A chapel was soon afterwards built at Eichmond, 
near the barrack, where a promising Sunday-school 
is now held, and where the military may enjoy the 
means of salvation. This erection was effectually 
promoted by the zeal and exertions of the truly devoted 
couple just mentioned. Some persons affect to de- 
spise what they call religious hobbies ; but there are 
too many examples of the utility of at least some such 
hobbies to justify their universal condemnation. The 
leading idea, the ruling desire of Mr. and Mrs. Haugh- 
ton was to seek the spiritual good of the army ; and for a 
commendable reason; the former having been, — if not 
converted, — confirmed in the grace of God, by the in- 
strumentality of a devout soldier. Mrs. Haughton, a 
woman of some peculiarity, but of great excellence, 
herself applied to the Earl of Eoden for aid towards 
the erection in question ; urging the claims of the class 
of persons for whom it was intended, and the neces- 



145 

sity and importance of such a provision, as the ground 
of her plea. "And, my lord," she said, with unaffected 
simplicity, ''won't you give me a good deal ?" To 
this appeal his lordship responded, after some time, 
by a noble donation. 

The annual sermon for the Sabbath schools was 
preached by Mr. T, in Whitefriar Street, April 13, 
1828. His text was Matthew xii. 12: "Wherefore 
it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days." He 
takes grateful notice of the amount of the collection, — 
£15 8s.,— £5 8s. more than the previous year; in- 
dicating as it did not only the favourable estimate 
in which he was held, but the growing interest felt 
in that mode of religious education. 

Some Christians are so sensitive as to be annoyed 
and depressed b}^ the most trivial incidents. Often 
have such persons heard from Mr. T. the affectionate 
rebuke, uttered with cheerful look and manner: 
"Come, come: of how small concern will this be 
when you are twenty years in Heaven !" In April of 
this year he thus admonishes one of this fearing and 
melancholy temperament : " Are you growing stronger 
to bear little things '/ Indeed, when I consider myself 
an immortal spirit on the verge of an eteknal world, 
everything looks little to me. Going to be crowned 
with glory to-morrow, and let the sting of a midge 
trouble me to-day ? ' 

The history of his labours and encouragements on 
the Dublin circuit, now nearly terminated, may be 
concluded with the following lively description : "We 
have had some of the best meetings in Dublin the 
last three weeks that I have seen in it for eighteen 
months. I never saw so good a Love-feast in this 

o 



146 

city as the last in Gravel Walk. Our prayer-leaders 
are all alive, and all at their post. We breakfasted 
together, last Sabbath morning. None but they and 
myself were present. It v^as a meeting we shall not 
soon forget. We spent more than an hour on our 
knees praying for purity of heart, for an increase of 
holiness, and for the spread of the work of God. Our 
public band-meetings are. in general, seasons of much 
refreshing. One of our old widows, in No. 13, gave 
us such an account of entire sanctification lately as 
was most instructive and profitable. She received it 
in one of those meetings, about four weeks back, 
while we were at prayer for her. This, from a woman 
who had been an ornament to religion for about fifty 
years, was reviving. 

''- 1 have endeavoured to visit many of the society 
lately, and I bless God for the healthy state of several. 
Some of our poorer members, scantily provided with 
food and raiment, I found heartily praising and bless- 
ing God." Even this is more than possible by the 
aids of that grace of Christ which is all-sufficient : 
" Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither 
shall fruit be in the vines ; the labour of the olive 
shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat ; the flock 
shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no 
herd in the stalls : yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I 
will joy in the God of my salvation." — Hab. iii. 17, 18. 



CHAP. V. 

1828-.1830.— DROGHEDA. • 

At the Conference of IBSB, Mr. Tackaberry was ap- 
pointed to the Drogheda ch^euit. It will be remem- 
bered that he spent some time here in 1832, imme- 
diately after having been placed on the list of reserve, 
and before he went to Skibbereen. A record of " the 
manner of his communications" during that period is 
preserved. *' On Wednesday," he says, *' I left Dub- 
lin, and preached in Balbriggan, where I met a 
father indeed in Mr. Thomas Eogers, the master of 
the house where I stopped. Such a man in his 
family I have not seen. We walked together next 
morning, and he gave me some advices which I shall 
not soon forget. Thursday : — I came into this town 
(Drogheda) where I preached to an attentive congre- 
gation, and held two prayer- meetings. May the Lord 
God give me some fruit. Thank the Lord I am 
happy. Two such days as yesterday and to-day I 
have seldom spent. I am sole tenant of Mr. Stewart's 
house ; he on his way to England, and she from 
home. The parlour is my study, a bethel indeed, 
where I can read, pray, think, write, and no one to 
disturb. 

" Many lose sanctification by resting in the witness 
of it. When it is received, then should we look for 
all the fulness of God daily. I hope to see good here 



148 

before I leave it. I preached this evening to about 
220 persons. I strove to speak plainly, closely, strongly. 
If one soul be converted, one awakened, or even one 
quickened, God shall have the glory. My own soul is 
happy in God, living in His will." 

His testimony, given soon after, to the character of 
that eminently devoted and useful minister's wife^ 
Mrs. William Stewart, is as just as it is exalted : 
'' The people here generally are not good clay to make 
brick of Mrs. Stewart has more hope of her little 
girls, a large flock of whom are under her care, than 
of all the town beside. She is a woman of a thousand. 
I may have seen as holy, perhaps holier, but she has 
an unequalled method of managing young persons. 
I trust my observance of her will be of use to me 
while I live." 

Availing himself thus of retirement for a season, he 
was not less happy in his public work, ever joyously 
satisfied Avith the will of God : '' I had hoped, on coming 
to this circuit, for tokens of the Divine presence and 
sanction. As to myself, I have not been disappointed. 
Seldom have I known such times. My soul has been 
kept in God, every moment offering myself to Him for 
time and eternity. I long from the bottom of my heart 
to be devoted to Him as I have never been. I trust 
I shall. yes, I shall be fully, wholly, and, if faith- 
ful, for ever the Lord's. I hope I have seen some 
good done on the circuit ; but ! that I had seen, 
that I may see, more ! Everywhere I endeavoured to 
speak plainly. On Wednesday night we had a back- 
slider restored ; and at different meetings a melting 
influence rested upon the people. that I could see 
more glory brought to the name of Jesus. 



149 

** The Protestants are very thin on this circuit, con- 
sequently the congregations are small. There is as 
much Irish as English spoken on parts of it. 
I never felt such strong desire to understand the Irish 
language. I am to be in Drogheda on Tuesday. Mr. 
Stewart is expected home before that day-fortnight. 
The people wish and expect me round again. If I 
talk of home they laugh at me, and tell me I should get 
more manliness. If I must lose filial tenderness to 
get manliness, I had rather be the boy as long as I 
live. It matters not where but what we are. the 
blessing of living fully to God, of knowing nothing 
but Christ, and Him crucified ! I have had a taste of 
this during the fortnight. Yesterday, at twelve o'clock, 
my favourite hour for prayer, I spent some time on 
the top of Forkhill, in the county of Armagh, and 
thought of Moses viewing the promised land. It was 
one of the happiest seasons I ever spent. This you 
see is a letter of news ; thank God no bad news. 
Thursday night : — I am now in the house with that 
precious little woman Mrs. Stewart. She is a sweet 
established soul. One of her young people was con- 
verted in the class this evening." 

The hatred existing between the Celtic and Saxon 
races has been a formidable barrier to the spread of 
the Gospel in Ireland — the Gospel whose doctrine is 
that God has made of one blood all the nations that 
dwell on the face of the earth. This aversion has 
sometimes broken forth with relentless fury on the 
part of the Celts, provoking in return the most direful 
Saxon vengeance. Thus the massacre of 1641 earned 
a speedy and terrible retribution at the hands of 
Oliver Cromwell. This sanguinary rebellion is thus 



briefly, but graphically, sketched, in its causes, c'ii*- 
cumstances and consequences, by a recent historian : 
" The two (English) parties were still regarding each 
other with cautious hostility, and had not yet mea- 
&ured their strength,when news arrived which inflamed 
the passions and confirmed the opinions of both. 
The great chieftains of Ulster, who, at the time of the 
accession of James, had, after a long struggle, sub- 
mitted to the royal authority, had not long brooked 
the humiliation of dependence. They had conspired 
against the English Government, and had been at- 
tainted of treason. Their immense domains had 
been forfeited to the crown, and had soon been peo- 
pled by English and Scotch emigrants. The new- 
settlers were, in civilization and intelligence, far 
superior to the native population, and sometimes 
abused their superiority. The animosity produced by 
difference of race was increased by difference of reli- 
gion. Under the iron rule of Wentworth, scarcely a 
murmur was heard; but when that strong pressure 
w^as wdthdrawm, when Scotland had set the example 
of successful resistance, when England was distracted 
by internal quarrels, the smothered rage of the Irish 
broke forth into acts of fearful violence. On a sudden 
the aboriginal population rose on the colonists. A 
war, to which national and theological hatred gave a 
character of peculiar ferocity, desolated Ulster, and 
spread to the neighbouring provinces. The castle of 
Dublin was scarcely thought secure. Every post 
brought to London exaggerated accounts of outrages, 
which, Avithout any exaggeration, were sufficient to 
move pity and horror."^- 

* Macauley. 



151 

Mr. Tackaberry remarks, in the extracts above 
given, upon the thinness of the Protestant population 
on the Drogheda circuit, and the consequent smallness 
of his congregations. Elsewhere, once and again, he 
describes the Eomanists as ''clay that would not 
work," as *'bad clay to make brick." The fact may 
be accounted for in part by the sanguinary conflicts 
of which the country has been the theatre from time 
to time, — conflicts provoked sometimes, perhaps, by 
misgovernment, but alv/ays fomented by the priests, 
ever eager as they are to mamtain and extend the 
dominion of their pontifical master, who claims, and 
exercises where practicable, the right of interference 
in the secular as well as spiritual afl'airs of every 
country on earth. 

Admitting that the atrocities of 1641 merited retri- 
bution, and that Cromwell may have been the chosen 
instrument of its infliction, the fact referred to so fre- 
quently by Mr. T. is patent in the national antipathy to 
Protestantism. There is a sullen remembrance of for- 
mer wrongs and desolations, real and imaginary, and 
this operates in the way to which Mr, T. adverts as well 
as otherwise. Nor is it much to be wondered at. One 
historian relates: "Cromwell stormed and captured 
Drogheda, and left an everlasting remembrance of hissan 
guinary character here in the massacre of its unarmed 
inhabitants ;" a statement confirmed substantially by 
the Protector himself, in the following conclusion of 
his report to Parliament, dated Dublin, 17th Sept.^ 
1649 : " Divers of the enemy retreated into the Mill- 
mount, a place very strong and of difiicult access ; 
being exceedingly high, having a good graft (ditch) 
and strongly palisadoed. The Governor, Sir Arthur 



152 

Ashton, and divers considerable officers being there? 
our men getting up to them, were ordered by me to 
put them all to the sword. And indeed, being in the 
heat of action, I forbade them to spare any that were 
in arms in the town : and I think that night they put 
to the sword about 2,000 men ; divers of the officers 
and soldiers being fled over the bridge into the other 
part of the town, where about 100 of them possessed 
Saint Peter's church-steeple, some the West gate, and 
others a strong round tower next the gate called 
Saint Sunday's. These being summoned to yield to 
mercy, refused. Whereupon I ordered the steeple of 
Saint Peter's chin-ch to be fired, when one of them 
was heard to say in the midst of the flames : ' God 
damn me ! God confound me ! I bum, I bm:n !' 
The next day the other two towers were summoned, 
in one of which was about six or seven score ; but 
they refused to yield themselves, and we knowing 
that himger must compel them, set only good 
guards to secure them from running away until 
their stomachs were come down. When they sub- 
mitted, their officers were knocked on the head, 
and every tenth man of the soldiers killed; and 
the rest shipped for Barbadoes. I am persuaded that 
this is a righteous judgment of God upon these bar- 
barous wretches, who have imbrued their hands in so 
much innocent blood; and that it will tend to prevent 
the effusion of blood for the future ; which are the 
satisfactory grounds to such actions, which otherwise 
cannot but work remorse and regret." 

The vindicator of the Protector thus apologizes for 
the carnage above narrated : " Cromw^ell acted in Ire- 
land like a great statesman, and the means he em- 



158 

ployed were those best calculated promptly to restore 
order in that unhappy country. And yet we cannot 
avoid regretting that a man, a Christian man, should 
have been called to wage so terrible a war, and to 
show towards his enemies greater severity than had 
ever, perhaps, been exercised by the Pagan leaders of 
antiquity."* 

The experiment of converting Ireland, therefore, by 
the sword, and by measures of severity, has been suf- 
ficiently tried. Henceforward, while the motto of all 
Protestant Churches is, " No peace with Eome," — 
with the doctrines, the policy, the aims of Popery ; 
while maintaining our protest, vigorous, determined, 
against the monstrous additions to, and corruptions 
of, the truth of God by that system ; while at the same 
time giving, what v/e claim, liberty of judgment and 
of worship to its votaries ; let the people be treated 
personally with kindness; let there be a studied 
avoidance of all irritation in word and deed ; an 
avoidance of everything shutting up the way of access 
to their consciences and hearts ; and while no worldly 
inducements are held out as a means of proselytism, 
let protection be afforded in every possible way to 
those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. 
And withal, let the Churches of Protestantism rise 
above their narrow prejudices, their bitter env}dng, 
their unseemly strife. Let the vaunting of Eome be 
silenced when she would contrast her unity with our 
divisions, by being forced to the admission that the 
various evangelical denominations, while differing in 
circumstantials, are cordially one in heart. In order 
to this, let there be vital, personal piety in those de- 

* D'Aubigne. 



154 

nominations, — for men will not, cannot love one another 
with pure hearts fervently, unless they love our Lord 
Jesus Christ in sincerity. Where genuine love to 
the Saviour is absent, all professions and manifesta- 
tions of brotherly kindness, or catholicity, must be 
hollow and hypocritical. And let the conduct of all 
classes of Protestants demonstrate, not only the 
superiority of our creed, but of our morals. Let 
the spiritual, earnest members of those several 
Chm"ches co-operate with their official agents, by ex- 
posing anti- Christian error in its various forms and 
consequences ; ever speaking the truth in love ; prov- 
ing what they affirm by *' Thus saith the Lord," 
and constraining the feeling that this exposure is not 
the fruit of personal hostility, but of yearning pity, 
of warm and fearless affection for their souls. Let 
this course be persevered in, nothing discouraged, in 
nothing terrified, should hindrances, adversaries, and 
dangers have to be encountered at the outset ; and it 
cannot be doubted that, ere long, the aboriginal as 
well as colonist population of Ireland will flock to 
hear the truth preached *' as doves to their windows." 
Having been married to Miss Johnston, of Cortub- 
bin, near Ballycanew, at the close of his second year 
in Dublin, Mr. Tackaberry was appointed to the 
Drogheda Circuit by the Conference of 1838, with the 
Eev. Andrew Hamilton, jun., as his superintendent. 
An extract from his first letter will describe his views 
and hopes : " Our house is good enough for any man 
with a small family, having the feeling of a pilgrim 
and a sojom-ner. It is not very well furnished, but 
contains more, however, than the prophet's chamber, 
2 Kings iv. 10. 



155 

'* Mr. Hamilton, my present bishop, is a man whom 
I shall not only highly respect and esteem, but 
greatly love. He is a sensible, judicious, talented 
man, and deeply pious also — a man of God. Metho- 
dism in town and country is very low indeed. I have 
been round part of the circuit, have met some of the 
classes, preached sometimes in town, made many 
enquiries, and my firm opinion is that nothing less 
than the power of God can revive us. Mr. Hamilton 
and I have been consulting, planning, and purposing. 
May God aid us ! 

" Mr. H. is able and willing to work. Thanks to 
God, so am I. We are both devoutly resolved to lay 
ourselves out length and breadth for Christ and souls, 
to labour with all our might. The w^orst is that in 
many places we have few but Komanists to work upon, 
and they are not good clay for Methodist brick. 

'' Having read this statement, you will think it 
strange if I can be much encouraged, and yet I am. 
I have time for retirement, reading, meditation, and 
PEAYER, and am deeply grateful for these opportuni- 
ties." So great was the contrast between the Drogheda 
and Dublin Circuits, that he observes, in continua- 
tion: " I almost feel as if I were not the same man ; 
such quiet of mind, such tranquillity of spirit, such a 
calm ! Nothing like it for more than two years ! 
Hence I am encouraged by increased inward comfort, 
by greater nearness to God in prayer, and by a 
hope of better days, which I find growing in the hearts 
of our people. My dear Eliza and I are striving 
to help each other to Heaven. Bless the Lord, my 
soul, and forget not all his benefits ! " 

A short extract from his next letter introduces to 



156 

your notice, reader, a remarkable event, a case of con- 
version to God, — clear, marked, fruitful, — the subject 
of it nearly ninety years of age. The case referred to is 
that of old Mr. Cranwillj of Ballynamoney, Mr. Tacka- 
ben^'s grandfather : " The news in my dear Jane's 
last was extraordinary indeed ; it was glorious news ! 
How is grandfather since ? Is he as happy as ever ? 
Is he recovering, or worse, or gone home ?" 

The manner and circumstances of this event were 
so striking and affecting that Mrs. Morris, his 
daughter, committed them to paper at the time, and 
thus preserved a most interesting record of Divine 
power and grace. Old Mr. Cranwill was one of those 
goodly formal Protestants, whose religion consists in 
an aversion to Popery, and a regular observance of 
external duties. After the straitest sect of such re- 
ligion, it might be said he lived a Pharisee ; such an 
one as the poet describes : 

" Oft did I with the fl,ssembly join, 
And near thine altar drew ; 
A form of godliness was mine, 
The power I never knew." 

In the year 1815, several of Mr. Cranwdll's children 
having been converted under the ministry of the Kev. 
A. Taylor, the aged man often shed tears of gratitude 
for the great mercy thus shown to his family ; and 
having had frequent opportunities himself of thus 
hearing the Gospel, his mind and conscience became 
partially enlightened and awakened. He ivas never 
known to kneel in prayer until he heard Mr. Taylor. 

The deep-seated and long-cherished pride of his 
heart, however, well nigh proved his ruin. On one 
occasion, listening to Mr. Taylor preach at a field- 



157 

meeting, a conscience-stirring sermon, he imagined 
that allusions were made in the discourse to his for- 
mer course of life ; and that thus the preacher un- 
generously held him up to the observation of all pre- 
sent. This he regarded as a personal offence, never 
to be forgiven ; observing, at the same time, that he 
would have thanked Mr. Tavlor had he told him his 
faults in private. Concluding that his children had 
made some disclosures to the preacher concerning 
him, he thenceforward opposed in them what before 
he approved. So far did he carry his opposition, that 
he carefully read the Bible to find passages against 
the doctrines of the Methodists. But the Word spoken 
at the field-meeting was as a nail in a sure place. The 
*' arrows of the Lord stuck fast in him ;" the Divine 
" hand pressed him sore." In subsequent seasons of 
illness, especially, he evinced absorbing anxiety for 
salvation; and, subdued and humbled, entreated the 
prayers of those whom he previously opposed and 
hindered. 

Falling on the floor at one time, he was deprived 
of speech for two days ; yet was his understanding 
unimpaired During this period it was distressing, 
and yet encouraging, to witness his agonizing strug- 
gles whenever the Word of God was read, and prayer 
made with him by his daughter. Prayer was heard 
and remarkably answered in his behalf; his restora- 
tion to the use of his speech and limbs w^as as sudden 
as the attack. He arose, came down the stairs the 
same hour, and had the family summoned to worship, 
that they might magnify the Lord with him, and 
exalt His name together. From that time his oppo- 
sition to Methodism abated, although he still mani- 



158 

fested some disrelish for the doctrines of Christian 
perfection and of conscious pardon. His ignorance, 
prejudice and formality continued to recede before the 
light of the Spirit and of the Word of Truth, until fully 
dispelled. The following is the account of his con* 
version and death-bed testimony, as preserved and 
famished to me by his daughter, Mrs. Morris : — 

" About three weeks before my dear father's death, it 
pleased God to strip him of that self-righteousness in 
which he had long trusted. I had frequently spoken 
to him, for years, about his eternal state, and always 
met wath repulse and disappointment. On visiting 
him this evening, Aug-ust 11, 1828, I perceived his 
end was fast approaching; and I again ventured to 
speak to him on the subject of his salvation, under 
such fears and feelings as nothing but filial affec- 
tion and tender concern for his eternal welfare could 
conquer. What I said on regeneration, and the neces- 
sity of seeking a sense of the Divine peace and favour, 
he received just in his accustomed way. He com- 
plained even with tears ; said he had not wronged 
any man through life ; that the Lord w^as good, and 
he hoped would be merciful to him. On my en- 
deavouring to explain that God could not show mercy 
towards His creatures who had sinned against him in 
any other way than by renouncing all hope in 
themselves, and relying solely on the atonement of 
Christ for pai'don and Heaven, he replied, ' You ex- 
pect too much : you lay too much on me. Bring me 
a Bible : read the 15th chapter of Acts.' While I 
was reading, he remarked how these persons had been 
oppressed by their mistaken teachers requiring of 
them many things unnecessary to he observed; and con- 



159 

eluded by saying, ' the Word of God does not lay on 
me such burdens as you would.' I endeavoured to 
show him that his case was not parallel with 
that in Acts ; that my object was to lead him where 
he would be relieved of a burden under which he had 
laboured all his life. I begged him to consider what 
child would venture to speak to a parent as I had 
done, but from the most urgent conviction of duty ? 
And what, but concern for his happiness, could make 
me incur his displeasure, by again introducing a sub- 
ject which had always been attended with pain of 
mind to him and me ? He left the parlour where we 
had been sitting, retired to his room, and went to bed, 
from which he never afterwards rose. 

" About an hour after he desired to see me. He 
began solemnly: 'My dear child, the Lord has 
stripped me of all I ever trasted in since I came 
up here ! He has showed me what I am, and where 
I must look. I am coming to Him at the eleventh 
hour. I hope the Lord will not cast me off even now. 
Come, Lord Jesus ! I wait for Thee ! The work is 
Thine only. Do Thou become my Physician : my 
trust is in Thee, not in man. I am not worthy of 
the lowest place in thy kingdom, the meanest office 
in thy house. If I get in at all, it is more than I 
deserve. It will be through mercy alone, and I shall 
for ever praise Thee. The Word of God says. In 
my Father's Jiouse are many mansions. The lowest 
should be mine. Were it possible I should be a 
hewer of wood or a drawer of water to the servants of 
my God, it would be more than I deserve. Yet the 
Lord, I hope, will accept me, and bring me to His 
kingdom. He has stripped me of all in which I 



160 

trusted, and has showed me 1 had nowhere to look to 
but to Him !" 

Thus, in answer to many years' unceasing prayer, 
offered for him by his converted children and gi^and- 
children : — 

" Faded his virtuous show, 
His form without the power ;■ 
The sin -convincing Spirit hlewy 
And hlasted every flower : 
His mouth was stopped, and shame 
Covered his guilty face ; 
He fell on the atoning Lamh, 
And he was saved hy grace." 

Mrs. Morris's narrative proceeds : " He continued 
earnestly engaged in prayer through the night and 
next day. On Tuesday he was visited by the Eev. 

Mr. , who recommended him to look back on his 

past life, to call his sins to remembrance, and repent 
of them. This, he told me, when I visited him the 
following day, had confused and bewildered him, ob- 
serving, ' he does not understand speaking to a man in 
my state. Such advice might have done me good 
had I heard and followed it years ago ; but now I 
cannot do W'hat he would have me : I have not time. 
I cannot look backw^ards or round me for any man : 
I have no time but for one thing, — to look to God 
through Christ. My time is short : I throw myself 
on the mercy of God in Christ. I'll lie for ever there, 
acknowledging, if he cast me off, he might justly do 
so ; but I believe he will receive me. He did not re- 
ject the prodigal, who had nothing to plead but 
Father, I have singled ! I believe he will receive me 
also!' This day, and through the night also, he con- 
tinued in fervent prayer. 



I 



161 



** On Thursday morning, as soon as I came into 
the room, he said : ' My dear, the Lord has heard my 
prayer I He has given me peace, — I know He has ! 
My cry entered into His merciful ears, and He sent 
and took me out of the hands of my enemies I I 
never thought I could have felt this. I did not think 
it couM be felt or enjoyed. O the peace ! It passeth 
understanding ! Yes ; it is the peace of God ! He 
gives it, and the comfort of His Holy Spirit. Lord 
help me to praise Thee ! Thou hast done wonders 
for me ! My burden was so great through the night 
and this morning, that I could not hold out many 
minutes longer; but, glory be to God, He came and 
saved me ! I have seen His arms stretched out to 
embrace me for ever! O Lord, how boundless is 
thy mercy towards me ! I have seen thy salvation!' 

*'In the evening, when again I visited him, his first 
words were : * My dear child, the Lord has been adding 
to me, I believe He will be with me to the end. 
O the hardness of my heart! But it is broken. 
Many a hard heart His grace has subdued. What 
mercy that He waited so long ! What forbearance 
towards a most flagrant sinner, a daring rebel, an 
open violator of his laws ! Yet all my life has been 
marked with blessings. I am blessed in childi^en and 
in children's children. Their prayers are answered 
in me.' When I visited him on Saturday, he said: 
* I am happy, happy : say what you like to me. Let 
me hear your voice : it comforts me. Yom^ word has 
been to me light in darkness : I wait to hear. Your 
choice of God's Word has been made a blessing 
to me !' 

*' Tuesday he appeared near death, but quite happy. 



162 

He said : ' Has not the Lord done wonders for me ? 
He has given me repentance, faith, holiness : all is 
happy. I have had a blessed night. All my waking 
hours were praise.' Wednesday :—' All my stings of 
fear and remorse, and guilt and shame, are turned to 
joy, and peace, and love. I have fought the fight. 
Victory, Lord ! Victory to the Lamb of Godl' To 

the Eev. Mr. , who before visited him, he said : 

' God has done wonders for me, through my Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ. He has sealed my pardon for 
time and eternity !* He frequently said, * What a 
mercy! I am brought in at the eleventh hour !' He 
lay whole nights without an hour's sleep ; but all was 
prayer and praise." 

Mr. T., having never found Methodism so low in 
any part of Ireland as on the Drogheda circuit, when 
first appointed to it, states that soon the congregations 
greatly improved, and that a prayerful and earnest 
hope of a revival was awakened among the " good 
people" everywhere. As for his esteemed superinten- 
dent and himself, they were " really working in good 
earnest." He was often blessed while preaching; but 
his seasons of most sensible and refreshing nearness 
to God were in secret. 

He did not long labour in the closet, and otherwise, 
in vain. On the 17th of October, he and Mr. Coulter 
visited an interesting young person in Dundalk, who 
was earnestly seeking forgiveness of sins, and after 
having spent from eleven till twelve o'clock with her 
in prayer, it pleased God to deliver her soul. At 
Kingscourt, soon after, an Irish teacher and his wife, 
both Romanists, joined the society; the former, Mr. 
T. had reason to believe, was happily the subject of 



163 

justifying grace ; the latter, an anxious enquirer for 
salvation. 

About this time he wrote a letter to a young friend 
on self-improvement, some of the contents of which 
may, not unprofitably, be transferred to these pages : 
'' Never in my life did I so deeply feel that I know 
nothing as I do now. I really wonder at myself what 
have I been doing all my life ? I have everything to 
begin : Lord help me ! And yet I am reading as 
much as ever ; but I feel I must go to the bottom of 
ever}^thing in a way I have not hitherto done. How 
much is to be known of God, of om^selves, and of the 
relations in which we stand to God ? How delightful 
where extensive learning and deep piety are found in 
the same person ! You may give eight hom^s to 
sleep, and in all reason that is enough ; twelve to 
business, and I do not think father will require more ; 
then four remains for reading and for your Heavenly 
Father. It is surprising what a few hours each day, 
regularly improved for years, would effect. Wonders 
are achieved by pimctuality, self-denial, and perse- 
verance. I have lately looked over Boswell's Life of 
Johnson, It is instructive and uncommonly inte- 
resting. Hog as Johnson was, this life of him is very 
valuable. 

'^ Youth is the time for first principles ; to lay the 
groundwork in every department. * * John- 
son's Rambler I think the best of that class. It is 
worth reading for the style ; but care is to be taken 
here, for if ordinary persons were to go about imitat- 
ing Johnson, they would need to be reminded of the 
fable of the frog and the ox. After all, God's book 
contains almost even^thincj. That it is not more loved 



164 

and studied, is one of the strongest proofs of human 
depravity. Time is but the entrance of life ; it should 
educate for eternity." 

Occasions will not be wantmg, in the case of un- 
spiritual persons who are Chm^ch members, to make 
it manifest that still they are *' of the world," — matri- 
monial celebrations for example. If, at such times, 
the heads of the family professing godliness will in- 
clude provision for unhallowed mirth in their ar- 
rangements, or even connive at it, should it be intro- 
duced by others, the barrier between the Church and 
the world is thrown down, and the injury done to the 
cause and work of God is incalculable. Mr. T.'s 
righteous soul was vexed by a godless wedding which 
he attended while on this circuit ; and the same day 
thus expresses his grief and indignation : " I spent 
three or four hours this morning at the wedding of a 
member of our society. The father and mother 
meet in class ; but we^had neither the form nor power 
of godlmess. From such weddings, and from such 
Methodists, may my God deliver me !" 

The circuit continued to rise, Mr. T. thankfully 
testifies, while he cherished lively anticipations of 
greater prosperity. He adopted what he considered 
the most effective mode of preaching, — the only mode 
that can be successful : " I preach a present salvation 
attainable by faith in Christ, as pointedly as I can. I 
find this is the kind of preaching the Lord acknow- 
ledges." 

His sense of obligation, as the servant of the Con- 
ference, solemnly bound to them by his ordination 
covenant, was clear and strong. To a suggestion 
that the whole family should go to America, to his 



165 

brother John, he thus replies : ^' That might do very 
well were I not a preacher ; but while I would go to 
the farthest verge of this green earth, were the Irish 
Conference to desire me, I should feel very strangely 
indeed to desert the work to which they appointed me. 
I greatly respect and love the members of that Con- 
ference ; and I love them the more, the longer I know 
them." 

The year 1829 commenced with hopeful indica- 
tions : " Our Sunday school, a very good nursery, 
is doing well. A circulating library, newly com- 
menced, is in operation. An additional Sunday 
evening prayer-meeting, m a previously untried part 
of the town, was crowded the last two Sabbath even- 
ings. These, we think, are good omens. Last Lord's 
day, two obtained Gospel liberty at one of our class 
meetings, and all the rest were quickened. We went 
to prayer with them three or four times. Two young 
persons had been converted the week before. Glory 
to God for a little reviving, and for a hope of greater ! 
Wife and I have had some very profitable seasons 
lately while at prayer together. We feel it needful to 
keep ahead of our people. The Eomanist about 
whom you inquired — the Irish teacher — heard me 
preach in Dublin last April ; was very glad when he 
learned I was appointed to this circuit ; has come to 
hear me every visit I paid to his neighbourhood ; 
joined our society the last time, and in our Love- 
feast professed justification and peace with God. He 
is a man of cool judgment, and ponders every step ; 
a man who I hope will wear well. His wife is not 
far from the kingdom of God." 

This communication, dated, in the conclusion. 



166 

January 1, 1829, has this significant postscript: 
*' How soon do dates change ! The world (wear old) 
passeth away." Possessed with the thrilling convic- 
tion that he must watch for souls, in and out of the 
pulpit, as one that must give account, he thus 
writes the next month : "In observing the state of 
our society here (Drogheda), I saw that searching 
preaching was especially called for; and hence I have 
preached as closely, if not more so, than ever I did in 
my life." Then he adds this testimony to Mrs. 
Tackaberry's spirit and character : " Wife walks very 
evenly. Her soul is thoroughly converted, and her 
temper good. I think she will continue in the ways 
of God till she goes to glory. The more of life I see, 
the more I value sound Scriptural conversion, such 
as is described, 2 Cor. v. 17, ' If any man be in Christ 
he is a new creature ; old things are passed away ; 
all things are become new.' I long for this entire 
change .of heart to be wrought in every member of 
my family." 

Is not " searching " preaching invariably called for? 
How else can the minister commend himself to every 
man's conscience in the sight of God, and save souls 
from death ? If, indeed, his object be to *' watch for" 
admiration, applause, emolument, then let him pan- 
der to the taste of the worldly and superficial, by all 
those rhetorical arts which " please" such *' men," — 
I an expedient which proves, meanwhile, that .he is 
I "not the servant of Christ;" but, if his absorbing 
I aim be usefulness, then he must '* not seek his own 
profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved." 
Every useful minister will be popular in the best 
^ sense, as certainly as the services of the skilful and 



167 

successful medical practitioner will be in growing re- 
quisition. 

The craving of some in the present day for exclu- 
sively intellectual or flowery preaching, is nothing new. 
It is the old demand, "prophesy not unto us right 
things, speak unto us smooth things" ^^- — a demand 
too often prompted by a desire to indulge in lying 
vanities undisturbed. An intellectual ministry, pro- 
perly such, "teaching every man in all wisdom," is 
indispensable ; but conscience-preaching is not less so. 
The early Methodist preachers purposely " threw" 
their unconverted hearers " into conviction," in con- 
formity to their instructions, — "to convince, to offer 
Christ," — as " the best general method of preaching, "f 
And what was this but the method of our Lord him- 
self ? Witness his address to the woman of Samaria, 
and his appeal to the Scribes and Pharisees when 
they were convicted in their own consciences.]: What 
was it but the method of the apostles and first evan- 
gelists, as is abundantly evident from their acts and 
epistles ? In their ministry there was as much at 
least for the affections, the conscience, the will, as for 
the understanding ; their grand desire and aim being 
to succeed in beseeching and persuading revolted 
sinners to be reconciled to God. Few men in modern 
times have employed this apostolical mode in their 
published discourses with greater effect than President 
Davies, of America. A specimen from his Sermon on 
the Ministry of Reconciliation is subjoined : 

" Ye rebels against the King of Heaven ! Ye 
enemies of my Lord and Master Jesus Christ — I can- 
not flatter you with a softer name — ^hear me : Attend 

* Isa. XXX. 10. f Large Minutes. J John iv. and viii. 



\ 168 



to the proposal I make to you, not in my own name, 
but in the name and stead of your rightful Sovereign. 
I pray you in his stead — that is all I can do — be ye 
reconciled to God. In the name of the greatest and 
best of beings ; the name of the immediate Father of 
your spirits ; the name of your Preserver and Bene- 
factor, in whom jon live, and move, and have your 
being ; who gives you life and breath and all things ; 
the name of your Sovereign Lawgiver, who has a right 
to demand your love and obedience ; the name of 
your Supreme Judge, who will ascend the tribunal, 
and acquit or condemn as he finds you friends or 
foes; the name of that God who has replenished 
Heaven with happiness in which He will allow you to 
share, after all your rebellion, if you consent to tlie 
overture of reconciliation; in the name of that God 
of terrible majesty and justice, who has prepared the 
dungeon of Hell as a prison for His enemies, with 
whom you must have your everlasting portion, if you 
continue incorrigible in your rebellion ; in the name 
of that God who sent His dear Son to satisfy Divine 
justice for you by His death, and thus remove all ob- 
structions, on His part, out of the way of your recon- 
cihation. In this endearing name, I pray you be re- 
conciled to God. 

" In the name and for the sake of Jesus, the friend 
of publicans and sinners, who assumed your degraded 
nature, that He might dignify and save you; who 
died on a torturing cross, that you might sit on 
Heavenly thrones ; who was imprisoned in the gloomy 
grave, that you might enjoy a glorious resurrection ; 
who has discovered more ardent love for you than all 
the friends in the world ; for His sake I pray you be 



reconciled to God. Will you not do a thing so 
reasonable, so necessary, so conducive to your happi- 
ness, for His sake who has done so much for you ? 
Alas ! has the name of Jesus no influence among the 
creatures whom He bought with His blood ! It is hard 
indeed if I beg in vain, when I beg for the sake of Christ. 
*'But if you have no regard for Him, you certainly 
have for yourselves, Therefore, for your own sakes, be 
reconciled to God. If you refuse, you degrade the honour 
of your nature, and commence incarnate devils : for 
what is the grand constituent of a Devil but enmity 
against God? If you refuse to be reconciled, you 
will soon weary out the mercy and patience of God 
towards you, and He will come forth against you in 
all the terrors of an Almighty enemy. He will give 
death a commission to seize you and drag you to his 
flaming tribunal. He will break off the treaty, and 
never make you one offer of reconciliation more ; 
will leave you nothing but bare being, and an 
extensive capacity of misery, which will be filled up 
to the uttermost from the vials of His indignation. 
He will treat you as an implacable enemy, — as Amalek 
with whom He will make war for ever and ever. 
Long hath he endured your rebellion ; but He will 
soon ' go forth as a mighty man ; He shall stir up 
jealousy like a man of war ; He shall cry, yea roar ; 
He shall prevail against His enemies. Ah ! He will 
ease him of his adversaries !' He will give orders to 
the executioners of His justice : ' Those, mine 
enemies, who would not that I should reign over them, 
bring hither and slay them before me.'" * 

* The celebrated Dr. Chalmers states, in his address to the 
inhabitants of the parish of Kilmany, that the greater part of 



170 

*' Since I wrote last," Mr. T. relates, under date 
March 10, 1829, *' Our gracious God has visited us in 
Comakill, near Kingscourt, county Cavan. Fourteen 
or fifteen persons have found peace with God within 
four weeks, and there is room to hope the good will 
spread. February 28, I preached among them on 
Luke xii. 32. One soul was blessed ; next morning, 
at the class, the Irish teacher's wife obtained mercy, 
and his own soul was almost in Heaven. The work 
was in preparation these four months, though we 
had no outbreak until now. The meetings are just 
like those of former days." 

In the account of the circuit, which he forwarded to 
Mr. Hamilton at Conference, he mentions that about 
fifty had joined the society during the year, and 
thirt3^-five or forty received pardon of sin ; that circuit 
and missionary finances were in a more healthy state 
than the previous year. The note conveying this in- 
formation contains Mr. T.'s definition of vital religion 

the twelve years he spent among them, while he expatiated on 
the meanness of dishonesty, the villany of falsehood, the despi- 
cable arts of calumny and other deformities of human character, 
it never occurred to him that these vices might have been re- 
linquished, and yet the souls of his hearers have remained in 
full alienation from God ; that he was not sensible that all the 
vehemence with which he urged the virtues and proprieties of 
social life had the weight of a feather on the moral habits of his 
parishioners ; that it was not \mii\ reconciliation to God through 
the death of His Son became the distinct and prominent theme of 
his ministrations ; it was not until the offer of free forgiveness 
through the blood of Christ luas urged upon their acceptance, 
that he heard of those subordinate reformations which he afore- 
time made the earnest and zealous, but he feared the ultimate, 
object of his ministry/. — See Life of Dr. Chalmers, by Eev. Wm. 
Hanna, LL.D., vol. 1, p. 481. 



171 

as to its essential nature : *' I think the very essence 
of piety, as it respects the enjoyment of it, is a con- 
stant, thankful delight in God." 

This year the Eoman Catholic Belief Bill, as it 
was called, obtained the royal signature ; an event 
regarded with apprehension and dread previously, and 
subsequently with indignation and grief, by Mr. T., 
because stubborn historical facts, and facts of daily 
occurrence, demonstrated to him that Popery could 
not be entrusted with political power, without preju- 
dice to civil and religious liberty. Persons who might 
regard his views as narrow and illiberal at the time, 
would now, perhaps, admit that recent events are in 
evidence of the general correctness of those views, and 
confirm, to a large extent, his worst fears and predic- 
tions. Shortly before the passing of the Act he thus 
writes : "I never did feel deep concern about the 
state of England until now. But it may be, if the 
bill should pass, another King will be placed on the 
throne, and a revolution effected. However, all shall 
in the end be made subservient to the Divine will, 
and in the meantime it shall be well with the 
righteous." 

A month after the measure became law, in answer 
to the enquiry, "What do you think of the times ?" 
he replied, manifestly under the influence of strong 
emotion : " I scarcely know what to think, but this I 
believe, that on the 13th of April, 1829, the King did 
what he could to emancipate eveiy Protestant in the 
British dominions from his oath of allegiance. He 
has broken down the walls of the constitution ; let in 
a drove of the wild boars of the wilderness ; and God 
only knows what will be the state of the vineyard 



172 

before they have done rooting up, trampling an( 
destroying ! 

" It may be that Government saw a necessity for 
this concession, which I have not yet been able to 
see ; and therefore I think as coolly as I can upon the 
subject; but in my mind it is a dreadful expedient, 
a frightful experiment. Since this question was agi- 
tated, I have looked over all the laws ever enacted 
against the Irish Papists, so far as they were accessible 
to me. I believe, formerly they were cruelly treated ; 
but, alas ! if the policy of bye-gone days is to be de- 
plored, this trebly so. This I fear is the worst of all 
the bad ones. 

" From travelling through Ireland these seven 
years, and especially having resided the last two in 
Dublin, I am persuaded, notwithstanding all that is 
said about religion, there is very^ little New Testa- 
ment piety in the country. Worldly-mindedness, for- 
getfulness of God, and pride generally prevail among 
all sects. I need not name the Romanists on the 
subject of vital religion. In the Churches of Pro- 
testantism how much of form, and how few instances 
of Scriptural conversion, and of deep devotedness to 
God ! Even the Methodists — whom, in my partiality, 
I believe to be, by many degrees, the most spiritual 
people in the land — have faults over which I throw 
the mantle of charity, while I say, alas for them ! 
Their tenets I believe to be entirely Scriptural. They 
hold the doctrine of the witness of the Spirit, Eom. 
viii. 15, 16 ; Gal. iv. 6 ; and the possibility and privi- 
lege of being cleansed from all sin ; of loving God 
with all the heart ; but where shall we find the 
Methodists who walk in this light, who rejoice ever- 



173 

more, pray without ceasing, and in everything give 
thanks ? It may be that on account of this destitu- 
tion of vital and eminent piety among those profes- 
sing to be guided by the written Word, as the rule of 
their faith and practice, the Lord has permitted this 
desolating event to take place. It is probable that 
the Church of England will first pass under the rod, 
and then the Dissenters and Methodists : and after 
the righteous Lord shall have scourged His people by 
tliose a thousand times worse than themselves. He 
may then throw the rod into the fire. 

" I think Infidels and Eomanists will unite against 
the Establishment ; and once overthrown, she will no 
longer sit a queen. I do not think the Presbyterians 
a bad people ; but they remember the days of Charles 
and of Claverhouse, — the persecutions they suffered 
at the hands of the Prelatical English Church ; and 
they will probably retaliate, if ever they shall have op- 
portunity. Do not say I am turning prophet; no, 
but I regard these as rational deductions from the 
present posture of affairs, — as what will most likely 
be the result, unless God, will I say, miraculously in- 
terpose. However, it shall be well with the righteous ! 
Hallelujah ! The Lord God omnipotent reigneth ! 

" Were I a man of business, I would go to America ; 
but it would be awfully unlike my Master, were I to 
flee from the sheep when the wolves are getting into 
the fold. My mind is not now uneasy as it was be- 
fore the bill passed. The dyke is broken; the 
mounds are sv/ept ; the waters are pouring in ; and 
the country will soon be deluged. I cannot help it, 
and I think it quite useless to fret about it. David 
was a man after God's own heart while he kept the 



174 



1 



laws instead of mending them. I never wrote so 
much on politics before, and probably will not soon 
again." 

This letter, written to his brother, concludes by an 
affectionate exhortation to consecrate himself and his 
services to God : *' Henry, a number of young men, 
lately converted, near Kingscourt, are already holding 
meetings, and doing good. O ! when shall my brother 
Henry be thus engaged ? Henry, the Bible is true ! 
It is God's book. It tells much of the love of Jesus, 
of His love to you. He died for you ; wants you to 
be happy for ever ; and you do not love Him. Ah ! 
Henry, how long? The love of Jesus first broke my 
heart. An interesting young person with v/hom I 
am acquainted heard a sermon, six weeks since, on 
Proverbs xiv. 32, was cut to the heart, thoroughly 
awakened, and never rested day or night till she 
found the Saviour. Walk out in the evenings, and 
think over this matter. Shame, pride, pleasure, sin, 
Satan will all endeavour to hinder ; but Christ will 
help you ; Jesus will be your friend. Farewell." 

Soon after Conference there were several converted, 
in some of w4iom Mr. T. never expected to see a sav- 
ing change ! One of them, a young man learning 
classics, all whose family were opposed to Methodism. 
There were three young ladies also, very fine, who 
used to sneer at piety, but old things were passed 
away, Friday, 2nd October, was appointed as a day 
of special prayer and fasting, that God might revive 
His work on the circuit. He requests his mother to 
meet him before the throne of grace, at six, twelve, 
and five o'clock. 

God never said to the seed of Jacob, — ^His wrestling 



175 

people, — seek ye my face in vain. About thirty-five 
persons, Mr. T. states, had found peace with God in 
the neighbourhood of Kingscourt, in two or three 
months, the previous year ; and he notices, as a re- 
markable feature, that, at the time he wrote, not one 
had turned back, or lost his religious comfort. The 
converted young men were like a flame of fire wher- 
ever they went. Drumcar was the place next visited, 
where a few were brought to God. Then Dundalk, 
where eleven, by profession, obtained pardon of sin. 
" Sanguine as I am," he observes, '- 1 make great al- 
lowance for the excitement of the passions, and hence, 
with reference to these, I wait for the fruits." 

The cloud next moved in the direction of Drogheda. 
Mr. T.'s description of the work is vivid : " I met a 
class yesterday morning, at which two young men, 
lately in very deep distress, related how the Lord had 
removed their load of guilty woe the preceding week, 
while agonising with Him in secret prayer. Last 
night after preaching we held a prayer-meeting. I 
invited penitents to come forward that we might pray 
with and counsel them. Eighteen men and nine 
women did so. Of these five professedly received 
pardon before we withdrew. The meeting closed 
before nine. This night we turned the class- meeting 
into a general prayer-meeting. One or two found 
mercy. To-day I visited some of these new converts, 
and found them gloriously happy. All thanks to 
God ! Many here wonder to see any stir in poor, 
cold, dry, barren, critical, pharisaic, high -church 
Drogheda! Some of the leaders, from whom I ex- 
pected better, look on with suspicion and fear ; others 
again join in right heartily. God made our day of 



176 

fasting and prayer a very great blessing to the circuit. 
Many of those whom the Lord has forgiven were mem- 
bers of om^ society ; bat if they are unpardoned, of all 
others they need it most. This work is confined for 
the most part to the humbler classes. The respect- 
ables of Drogheda are far too high to enter a Wes- 
leyan Chapel, and are very careless and ungodly." 

One feature of this revival was regarded by Mr. T. 
with special interest. The persons converted were 
powerfully awakened, and drank deeply of the worm- 
wood and gall — eliciting the remark, that in ten 
years' observation of such displays of Divine mercy, 
when some at the commencement were pungently 
convinced of sin, the work generally extended wide. 
The saintly Mr. Hamilton was so elated that, Mr. T. 
says, he was a new man. 

Mr. T. preached in Kingscourt, Nov. 8. The chapel 
was so full, the people were sitting all the way up the 
pulpit stairs. The next night he preached a mile 
outside the town. He feared the little cottage might 
be pushed down, there was such a multitude. Four 
Komanists were present, whose attendance would have 
perilled their lives, were it known. The prayer- 
meeting after preaching was a glorious time. Three 
persons, by their own confession, were made the sub- 
jects of justifying grace. Nov. 15, he preached in 
Newiy, having exchanged with Mr. Holmes, who 
supplied his place in Dundalk. "I spent the day and 
night," says Mr. T., ''in the house of Mrs. M'Kenny. 
Such a mother in Israel I have seldom met. Her son 
is our missionary in Ceylon. She told me several 
anecdotes of the venerable Wesley and the early 
preachers. She also spoke feelingly and very profit- 



177 

ably on the blessing of perfect love. At seven in the 
evening the house was packed, and the Lord gave me 
strong words and much freedom in preaching to them. 
Three weary and heavy-laden souls found rest. I 
could not sleep for a considerable time after I lay 
down, from exhaustion. 

" The Newry preachers are most happily paired. 
Brother Holmes will set the vessel before the wind ; 
hoist every sail ; call all hands to work ; and, when 
she goes ten knots an hour, sing lustily, ' All's 
well !' While solid Mr. Nelson will look well to the 
helm, and probably discover that she needs some more 
ballast. 

*' Nov. 16. — Was on the coach with my face towards 
my own circuit just as the sun began to gild the tops 
of the surrounding mountains. The scene was truly 
grand and beautiful. The sun, thawing the frost, and 
cheering creation, led my mind to that uncreated Sun 
who years ago melted my frozen affections, warmed, 
and still warms, my cold heart, shining more and 
more unto the perfect day. The ample, cloudless 
concave with which we were surrounded reminded 
me of that eternal house above, where they need no 
candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lamb is the 
light thereof, and the redeemed walk in that light ! 
Hallelujah! As I passed through Dundalk I learned 
they had a very good meeting the previous evening." 

The gracious revival continued. Several of the 
converted young men commenced to pray in public. 
The societies in general were quickened. Drogheda, 
and the neighbourhood of Kingscourt especially, were 
the scenes of prosperity. March 2, Mr. T. called 
to see an aged woman who had been confined to her 



178 

bed by rheumatism for years — a hardened, unpromis- 
ing subject for religion. Her daughter had been 
blessed a month previously. This stirred up the 
mother, who earnestly sought until she obtained 
mercy. Often had he called to see her before ; but 
now she wanted to see him that she might declare 
what great things Christ had done for her soul. In 
April, he states that some were saved every week in 
one or other part of the circuit. For these reasons 
Mr. T. deemed it right to propose to Mr. Hamilton 
the observance of a day of thanksgiving by all the 
societies. 

In the midst of these labours and successes, anxiety 
for the salvation of the unconverted members of his 
family oppressed his loving and tender spirit. Once 
more he urges personal and immediate consecration 
to God upon his brother with importunity, which was 
not long resisted : '* Henry, you are very much on my 
mind. It is time, high time for you to give your 
heart, your all, to Him who claims you for His own, 
and leave the rest with Him. I beseech you think 
more on this subject. Henry, go to your room two 
or three times a day, and, on your knees, beg of God 
to give you strength to make the needful sacrifices. 
I ask you, by all the regard you feel for a brother who 
loves you, as well as for ten thousand reasons be- 
side, to attend to this. Had I a letter from Toma- 
gaddy, to tell me, your brother Henry died this 
morning quite suddenly — just dropped down and 
spoke no more — how would I feel ? The very thought 
is intolerable. 0, my brother ! My dear long-sought 
brother, give your heart to Jesus now. I long for 
this. Henry, make the effort= Tear yom^self from 



r 179 

earth. God, who loves you, and has long waited for 
your decision, will help you. Go to one of the classes 
next Sunday morning ; and may Jesus meet and bless 
you." 

Shortly after, on a Sabbath morning, this " long- 
sought brother" came into Ballycanew to preaching; 
and while a class was meeting in one room of his 
Uncle Morris's house, he went into another, and 
seeing the Bible open looked into it incidentally, when 
the following passage met his eye, and was applied to 
his conscience by the convincing Spirit with power : 
" He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, 
shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." 
Immediately he went into the class-room; joined him- 
self to the society with purpose of heart; soon ex- 
perienced conscious justification ; and not long after 
became a preacher of righteousness. 

The people on the Drogheda Circuit anxiously de- 
sired that Mr. T. should remain a third year, and 
steps were taken to secure his appointment. " Never 
in my life," he observes, '* did I feel more passive. 
The Lord shall choose my inheritance for me ; then 
all shall be well." 



CHAP. VI. 

1830-,1835. — wicKLow, bandon. 

There were reasons sufficiently strong, in the judgment 
of the Conference, for Mr. T.'s appointment to the 
Wicklow circuit, in July, 1830. His correspondence 
exhibits the same ardent longings for exalted spuitual 
attainments, and for success in his beloved work, dur* 
ing his stay on this circuit ; while his state of mind 
was more chequered, his joy subject to more fluctua- 
tion, than had been the case since his entrance into 
the ministry. He had frequent and powerful mental 
conflicts ; yet did he endure hardness as a good soldier 
of Jesus Christ ; and, although the contest might at 
times seem doubtful, arrayed in the panoply of God, 
and 

" Strong in the strength which God supplies, 
Through His eternal Son," 

his were ultimately the joys of victor}^, and the spoils 
of conquest. 

It is not the least encouraging feature in the in- 
structive allegory of John Bunyan, that the Pilgrims 
were as much in the way to the celestial city, — that 
they made " progress" as certainly, — when climbing 
the hill of difficulty, passing through the valley of 
humiliation, and engaged in fell encounter with 
Apollyon, as when transported with the visions of 



I 



SK 



181 

the delectable mountains ; or, when fanned with the 
balmy breezes, and regaled with the fragrant odours 
of the land of Beulah, where the sun always shines. 
At one time Mr. T. relates his experience as follows : 
" I am hungering and thirsting after holiness, some- 
times reproaching myself, sometimes rejoicing ; 
Heaven seems very near : I love to speak and think 
about it. I could live in meditation and converse on 
this subject. I am happy, but shall be much happier 
when I get into the element of praise." 

At another time he writes : " We might be much 
happier did we avoid severe reflections on ourselves. 
I often felt it good while making my own of Eom. 
viii. 28. Tiy to go forward rejoicing, in spite of a 
weakly body, low spirits, bad health, and the prince 
of darkness. Ponder that lovely Scripture, John xiv. 
27, especially the last clause of it. And let us re 
member 

' If evils come not, then our fears are vain ; 
And if they do, fear but augments our pain.' 

I can often greatly rejoice in God, and in the prospect 
of endless life ; yet I have my low seasons. Despite 
this occasional ebb of exulting emotion, let us hold 
isist faith, hope, and love. Waiting in the use of the 
means we shall have a spring- tide of joy by and by. 
There is a great deal in a will steadily and uniformly 
devoted to God, and in a conscience void of offence 
towards Him and towards men." 

Not only had he to wrestle against his own de- 
pressions, needless fears, and temptations to xmbelief, 
but to war against doctrinal error on the part of 
others, lest those who had embraced the truth, and 

B 



182 

placed themselves under his spiritual oversight, might 
be led away, and fall from their own stedfastness. At 
one of his stopping places he met a clergyman of a 
bigoted and exclusive spirit, self-opinionated, dogma- 
tical, and aggi-essive. In conversation this clergyman 
broached some tenets glaringly unscriptural, and main- 
tained them offensively ; tenets which Mr. T. felt him- 
self called on to impugn, although a controversial dis- 
position was foreign to his nature. " We had the young 
priest,'' he says " with us last night. He has as much 
effrontery as any other man of his age in Ireland. 
Our people do very wrong to hear him. He declared 
himself the secret and open enemy of Methodism ; 
told us he was writing against it, and would do all 
he could to uproot it. He said he did not like to 
talk with Methodist preachers, as he did not consider 
them to be Christians. I replied, * Thank you, sir, 
for declaring yourself. I shall now write to the 
Methodists concerning you, and use my influence to 
prevent them from receiving you into their houses.' I 
therefore beg all who have any regard for me, or for 
our cause, to give him no manner of encouragement." 
Such a collision would be intolerably irksome to him 
— ^his strange work. Prayer, praise, fellowship with 
spiritual Christians of every Church, self-sacrific- 
ing labour for the salvation of souls, was his 
delight. One of his maxims was, that '' every one 
grows or decHnes in grace, just in proportion as secret 
prayer is omitted or attended to." Conscientiously 
observant of the whole range of rehgious duty, he 
seemed to feel supreme satisfaction in the devotional 
exercises of the closet. There he talked with God, 
as a man talks with his friend And he sighed for 



183 

still closer communion, — as he phrased it, '* to pray 
and live like Bramwell, in the suburbs of Heaven." 

Having frequent opportunities of visiting Toma- 
gaddy while on this circuit, his letters were brief and 
infrequent ; and indeed he did not consider that the 
intervals furnished him with intelligence of sufficient 
importance to communicate in writing. There was, 
however, one exception. On the 18th January, 18B1, 
having recently been in Dublin, he describes one or 
two pleasing incidents in a lengthened espistle, some 
extracts from which will exhibit him as the soundly 
Protestant and eminently successful minister : 

" I seldom have anything very interesting to write 
since I left Drogheda; hence, my letters are short 
and few. After a good young man in the city had 
sought and found me in the evening, he requested I 
should breakfast with him and some friends at eight 
o'clock next morning. I found four young men happy 
in God, who, by mutual agreement, dieted and lodged 
together. We had a delightful meeting. When we 
could spare time for conversation I was asked, ' Do 

you know C here ?' ' No : I have seen him, but 

do not know him.' ' Indeed then, I know you, sir. 
Do you remember the evening you preached in 

Whitefriar Street on Heb. vi. 1 7_20 ?' ' I do, C , 

remember it well, for I felt so hard set to get through, 
that I thought I must stop : hence, I never preached 
on that text since.' ' Under that sermon I was 
awakened, found peace at a prayer-meeting you held 
after preaching another Sabbath evening, have been 
kept to this hour, and am now among the prayer- 
leaders r J. W. then asked, ' Do you remember the 
morning my master's son died ? On that occasion, 



184 

when you called, you took me by the hand, observed 
how suddenly he was called away in the midst of 
blooming hopes (he had been newly married) ; and 
enquired, as I might not have long to live, was I con- 
verted ? Was I happy ? I answered in the negative.' 
' Do you meet in class?' ' No.' ' You then advised 

me to join the class in E 's place. I did so : 

foimd salvation before you left Dublin, and now have 
the care of a class myself 

" We then conversed on the subject of purity of 
heart, &c., when the eldest obser^^ed, * We must now 
tell you the particular reason why we were so desirous 
for your company this morning. The Band-meetings, 
which you re-commenced when in town, have been 
going forward. We are to have the first Band Love- 
feast in January which has been held in Dublin for 
many years. We are anxious to have you at it, and 
have gotten permission from Mr. Stewart to appoint 
it for any evening you can come to us. We ^il\ frank 
you up and down in the day-coach, and only ask you 
to stay the one night, if your time be limited.' Next 
morning I rose in time to be at the coach by six. 
When W. G. opened the hall-door, he closed it 
abruptly, and , laughing, said, ' there are two of the 
brethren outside waiting for you !' It was so. Tw^o of 
those dear fellows at six o'clock, and on such a morn- 
ing ! One of them seized my travelling bag ; another 
put a large cloak, which he had brought, around me, 
and, taking my arm, swept me off to the coach, while 
good-natured W. G. turned back wdth a broad smile. 
Who will say that there is not some love, of the old 
sort, still among the Methodists ?" 

The other incident is illustrative of Mr. T.'s ardent 



185 

loyalty : " On December 16, I was overtaken, near 
Newcastle, by an old gentleman and lady in a gig. 
After enquiring my name, calling, &c., and bringing 
me a little out of my road through his nephew's 
demesne, he requested me to visit him the next time 
I came to Newcastle. On Thursday last, 1 called to 

see W. E — — , Esq., of K , and spent a most 

agreeable day. Mr. E. is about ninety years old, his 
intellect and health quite good, and he is as true a 
Brunswicker as ever lived. His grandfather's was 
the first house King William set foot in when he 
landed in Ireland. Mr. E. himself was baptized on 
the king's birth-day, and is called William after his 
Majesty, — a statue of whom, beautifully cast, with 
Orange ribbons for his bridle reins, being placed on 
the drawing-room chimney-piece. In another room 
he has painted in gold letters, on a purple ground, and 
elegantly framed, the answer of George the Third, 
when asked to sign the Popish Belief Bill : ' I have 
firmness sufficient, if required, to abdicate my throne, 
and retire to a cottage — to lay my head on a scaffold 
to be cut off— but I have not sufficient firmness to 
break my oath.' 

*' Mr. E. spent his early years in the army, and saw 
much foreign service. He is a very agreeable and 
instructive companion, especially to one who had 
never been out of Ireland. While he told me of being 
in company with Louis the Sixteenth, George the 
Third and Fourth, described both French and Eng- 
lish manners of nearly a century ago, and showed me 
some paintings with the costume and appearance of 
ancient days, all I had ever read of knights and 
castles rushed across my mind, I had some profit- 



186 



able conversation with a niece of the old gentleman, 
who, I believe, is truly converted. Mr. E. is enquir- 
ing, and his lady may be brought to enquire. He! 
begged I would spend a day with him every time 
come round ; and wishing me every success in my' 
public labours, handed me a little pocket Bible which 
he had for above seventy years, and used in his official 
capacity as magistrate for nearly fifty years. 

" Intreat my dear family to live every horn- in the 
enjoyment of God." 

The younger members of it had not yet been brought 
into this enjoyment. Eestlessly anxious that they 
might all be thus happy, he wrote the following 
characteristically tender, simple, persuasive letter to 
his brother William, while yet a boy : 

" My dear brother Willy, — I was very glad to 
find, by a letter from our beloved mother, that you 
continue to read the Bible — the precious, precious 
Word of God. But, my dear, when you read, pray 
that the Lord may cause you to understand His own 
good book. Often stop and think ' I must be judged 
by this book: am I living as it directs?' And then 
pray, ' Lord, let me know what Thou wouldst have 
me to do : help me, and I will do it.' The Lord 
help my dear brother Willy to be good. I hope you 
are also learning to write well, that you are forward 
in grammar by this time ; and especially that you 
are everyday increasing in sweetness of temper. Be 
kind to everybody, and you will be so far like Jesus, 
who, as he increased in stature, grew also in favour 
with God and man. Never be hard to please ; be 
thankful for everything, learn to bear little disappoint- 



187 

ments without murmuring, and you will be saved 
from much unhappiness. 

'* And, William dear, you are not too young to love 
God, our good God vv^ho loved you, and gave His son 
to die for you. 0, the love of Jesus ! And will you 
not love Him ? How often do you pray every day ? 
Eternity is very near. A few years and we will all 
be dead. ! God ! Shall we all be in Heaven ? 
William dear, what would we do, were we to lose 
Heaven ? The Lord bless you, my dear child, and 
make you His own for ever." 

The Lord did bless him. William was converted 
while yet young, and became a useful member of the 
Church of God. 

Mr. T.'s next sphere of labour was Bandon, to 
which he was designated in July, 1832. The state 
of his heart, at that Conference, will be best described 
in his own words : " I do not anticipate any changes 
in the stations, and, therefore, I hasten to give you 
the earliest information. Bandon is my destiny. In 
this appointment I had no hand. Indeed, I never 
thought of the circuit, much less of being made super- 
intendent of it. I take it therefore as from above. 
The chapel is a splendid one, and the congregation 
and society large and respectable. I know it a little 
since I was in Skibbereen. We had a very blessed 
Conference ; very little that was afflictive, good news 
from many parts, and such an unction from above at 
our sittings and public meetings as I have not wit- 
nessed before. Had you been at our preachers' love- 
feast to-night, you would never forget it. Bandon is 
like Drogheda, half time in and half out of town. 



188 

That is the plan of circuit I like. It agrees best with 
my body and mind." 

His first impressions on his arrival were of the 
agreeable and solemn kind: " Om^ chapel is re-* 
painting. It is by far the most beautiful in Ireland. 
Our lodgings are neat and well furnished. The 
stewards, leaders, and their wives seem all disposed 
to make their preachers comfortable. I wish there 
were many like them in every circuit. We have about 
250 in society in the town, 180 in the Sunday-school, 
120 boys and girls in the day-school, and 60 in the 

infant-school. H. G , Esq., a Methodist to his 

heart's core, principally supports the day-school. He 
is a simple, pious man, and useful wherever he goes. 
Thank God there is no cholera here now, and we 
hope it may not return. Two of our leaders in Skib- 
bereen, men whom I knew and loved nine years ago, 
have lately fallen by it. They finished ivell.'' The 
repeated renewal of his covenant engagements also 
gave evidence of his ardent and fixed purpose to be 
wholly and usefully the Lord's : " In my study, where 
I now write, I have more than once, since I came, 
made a fresh surrender of myself and my all to God. 
My soul is happy, and I believe he will bless me and 
be with me." 

The devastating malady referred to did return the 
next month, finding Mr. T.'s mind, as to himself, 
calm and undismayed : *' Sept. 25. — We have cholera 
in this town, in Kinsale, and Clonakilty. Not very 
many dying, however. I never was more earnest in 
following after God than since I came to Bandon. 
My gracious Lord visits and waters my soul. I hope 
to see good days. Indeed the present are good. I 



189 

thank God I never feel anything concerning cholera, 
except an ardent breathing that I might be found 
ready for anything and everything. If Heaven per- 
mitted I should be as well pleased to die of cholera 
as of any other disease. My mind has been very 
solemnly affected by the death of that great, good 
man, Dr. A. Clarke, since I heard it." 

A letter to me, written the following month, con- 
tains an instructive exposition of his views, plans and 
proceedings when entering upon a circuit: "My 
dear Huston — Few will rejoice more in your joy 
than I. I am thankful to hear of the state of your 
mind and of your affairs. You know that my plan, 
when I come to a circuit, is not that from which you 
might expect to hear of conversions immediately. 
Since I came to Bandon I have been enquiring con- 
cerning everything ; have taken doAvn the names of 
every class in my pocket-book, also the circuit regu- 
lations, &c. ; have held leaders' and society meetings 
in every place ; and am feeling my way as I proceed. 
Up to this, my grand aim has been to excite a hun- 
gering and thirsting after righteousness among our 
own people ; to arouse the leaders to an exact atten- 
tion to their classes, the local preachers to their ap- 
appointments ; and, thank God, not in vain. The 
return this year was 541, and it might have been from 
60 to 100 less. I have dropped some names for non- 
attendance, after first calling on them three times, 
and I will drop more. Our congregations in most 
places are doubled. At our love-feast here, (Bandon) 
one of our leaders said, in his experience, that he had 
not seen the society in a more hopeful state for years. 
This was encouraging. We have had a little reviving 



190 



i|: 



all round ; but I have not heard of more than one re- 
ceiving a clear sense of pardon since I came. 

" It will seem strange to you to say after this that 
I expect a better work on the Bandon circuit than I 
have seen since I entered the ministiy. My method 
is first to make my arrangements, then call all hands 
to work ; and, having done so, to wait for the oum 
pouring of the Spirit. My own soul is following hard 
after God. Never did I labour more earnestly in the 
closet than for the last two months. O the seasons 
I have enjoyed! The times of refreshing from the 
presence of the Lord ! Such an overwhelming sense 
of the Divine goodness I have seldom enjoyed; such 
views of the love of Jesus and of the glories of the 
skies ; and these followed by the thought, and I shall 
he there ! wonder of wonders ! This sense of the 
Divine goodness, and a feeling of gratitude till my 
very heart seems to melt, constitutes my happiness in 
secret, and in public too. 

" I never was in any place where the people talk so 
much about good preaching and preachers ; they are 
much more difficult to please than in Dublin, if we 
are to believe themselves ; but I do not mind ; I go 
straight forward, and never strive to aim higher than — 
the heart. I have commenced two Sunday schools 
the last month, from which I expect much good, and 
I hope to commence more. I have also begun a 
meeting for young persons every Friday evening, from 
which I look for fruit, and occasionally we have chil- 
dren's sermons. I have divided the town into dis- 
tricts, and hope regularly to visit every Methodist in 
Bandon during my fortnight in town. ' Work while 
it is called to-day.' Dr. Clarke's death has greatly 



191 

affected me. May I be found ready whenever the 
Master calls." 

Plow can it consist with a minister's views of duty 
to Christ and to souls to absorb his time in elaborat- 
ing and polishing his sermons, so as to gratify the 
taste of a few intellectual and refined persons in his 
congregation, — persons more alive to the beauties of 
style than to theological soundness or saving results,- — 
while, in consequence, his pastoral work is neglected, 
or but superficially performed ? How can he expect 
his Lord to pronounce " w^ell done" upon such a 
course of proceeding ? Had Mr. Tackaberry aimed 
at the head rather than the " heart;" had it been his 
highest ambition to earn the character of a talented 
preacher ; and, for this purpose, had he devoted his 
time so fully to the adornment of his public discourses, 
as to have little or none to give to household visita- 
tion or the instruction of the young, he would neither 
have secured the approval of his Divine Master, of 
his own conscience, or, ultimately, of those w^hom he 
thus studied to please. To give the proper degree of 
attention both to pulpit duties and pastoral visitation 
will be the anxious care of every conscientious mi- 
nister ; and, to assist him in this effort, it is incum- 
bent on the members of his congregation to guard 
against imreasonable expectation in relation to the 
one or the other. Let them exercise the needful can- 
dour and forbearance. Should he in one department 
appear defective, duly considering the claims of the 
other. Meanwhile, let them derive all possible profit 
from the services of him who is over them in the 
Lord, both ministerial and pastoral. 

Mr. T.'s closet exercises became still more profit- 



192 



1 



able and delightful. They are thus noticed, November 
17, 1832: " In my reading and general walk I am 
living as if I hoped to reach eighty years ; but I am 
striving to spend my hours of retirement as though 
to-morrow might be my last day. I have many 
moments of deep communion with God in the closet; 
but am labouring chiefly for that momentary spirit of 
praise, that constant, habitual joy, which the Word 
of God clearly promises. Wesley's letters abound with 
what I look for." 

His hopes of spiritual prosperity were not imme- 
diately realized, in consequence of the disturbed state 
of the country, occasioned by the Whitefoot combina- 
tion. The men came armed into the Bandon chapel, 
when the service was after dark ; and in the country 
many were afraid to come at all. *' The parlour in 
which I now sit," writes Mr. T., January 4, " has 
three broken panes, the Whitefeet having dashed in 
the windows last night, and left a notice for the 
master, coffined and dated, ' departed this life Feb. 9 , 
1853.' Two other houses where we stop in this 
neighbourhood were also attacked last night, and the 
gates torn up. The whole of the country is pro- 
claimed, but the magistrates are afraid to do their 
duty. Matters are daily becoming worse. My col- 
league sometimes carries a pistol. I have not, nor 
do I intend. You may think from all this that 
Fossey's mind is greatly excited. It is not. I go on 
as smoothly as ever ; no difference or change in any- 
thing, but that I do not ride at all by night, and that 
I cany the top of my brass umbrella foremost by day ! 
I did not tell my good little wife that I was coming 
to the place where I heard the windows were broken 



193 

last night. I suppose mother will be very uneasy. 
She need not. God protects. He can save as easily 
now as at any other time ; and if he chooses to per- 
mit, I v/ould just as willingly be killed as die." 

In the midst of these alarms, God vouchsafed some 
encouraging tokens: ** My soul grows in faith, and 
tastes increasing sweetness in gratitude to my 
Heavenly Father. How pleasant is the work of 
praise ! I have held one or two penitent meetings 
lately ; and when I think the time for them is come, 
I shall have more. A few obtain pardon, and but a 
few. Two have experienced purity of heart lately in 
Bandon ; and others are all athirst for it. Glory to 
God!" 

He also remarks : "I have often thought for weeks 
past of the phrase, the ' cheerfulness of faith.' I am 
cultivating, and I trust increasing, in it." 

" The cheerfulness of faith :" that is the serene 
and holy joy which is the fruit of faith. It is a felici- 
tous phrase, and admonitory as well. How many 
are the subjects of faith, who are strangers to its 
cheerfulness, because they themselves hinder its joy- 
producing operation ! Children of a King, they go 
mourning all their days, for this sole reason ! Religious 
joy has its degrees. There may be the joy of com- 
placent submission to the will of God, as well as the 
joy of exultation in doing it. Some degree of it is 
possible for the Christian "at all times." The scat- 
tered Churches to whom Peter wrote, notwithstand- 
ing their dispersion, their manifold temptations, 
and the fiery trial awaiting them, could rejoice 
with joy unspeakable and full of glory. *' Aye," says 
one, *' they could rejoice under persecution, and I 

s 



194 

think, by the grace of God, so could I ; but I am con- 
stantly suffering under physical infirmity, the prey of 
deep, constant, nervous depression." Well, but, my 
friend, might not your case, I was going to say, be 
infinitely worse ? True, nervous disorders, as Mr. 
Wesley says, are a great enemy to the joy of faith ; but 
are they to be allowed to conquer? Must they so 
mercilessly triumph as to deprive you of all Divine 
consolation? " My brethren," says an apostle, '' count 
it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations " or 
trials. Your present affliction, rightly viewed, may 
be the greatest occasion for joy. God sees a "need 
be" for it. In his judgment it may be the only medi- 
cine that can save your soul from death. Let your 
faith say, " He doeth all things well," and the troubled 
waves of fear, dissatisfaction with your lot, and in- 
clination to murmur, will subside ; and there will be a 
great calm,— -a calm implying at least some measure of 
joy. But remember, saving religion, especially in your 
case, is confidence, love, submission, not transport. 
Your choice, your preference of God for your portion, 
may be decided, when your degTee of joy is weak. If 
you cannot sing as at other times, you can trust ; if 
you cannot triumph, you can hope, though it be 
against hope ; and in the one case you will be equally 
acceptable to God as in the other. Your malady may 
be " physical not moral : it may be weak nerves, 
rather than weak faith." If, therefore, you cannot 
serve the Lord with as much " gladness" as others, 
as you did in former times, or as you now desire; for 
the credit of religion, for the honour of Christ, for 
the consolation of His people, as well as for your own 
sake, serve Him as joyfully as you can. 



195 

If the " cheerfulness of faith" be incumbent upon 
Christians who are the subjects of suffering, how 
much more so upon those who are exempt from it ! 
It is the behever's imperative duty, not merely his 
privilege, to be happy. This is evident from such 
commands of Scripture as *' Let the children of Zion 
be joyful in their King;" and "rejoice in the Lord 
alway." The duty is implied in those passages where 
the affection of joy is spoken of in connexion with 
the faith that brings salvation : *' Now the God of 
hope fill you with all joy and peace in beUeving :'* 
"Believing, ye rejoice with joy imspeakable and full 
of glory " — implying not only the prerogative, but the 
obligation, to rejoice. This joy is not to be confounded 
with natural buoyancy, unhallowed mirth, or even 
the pleasurable emotions which are dependent upon 
pulpit eloquence, the power of music, or what is 
termed religious excitement. These are not the spring 
of true joy. God himself is its source. It is not an 
occasional impulse, but a habitual frame; not the 
state of the heart on the Sabbath and in the sanctuary 
merely, but at home and in the daily occupations of 
life. Christian ! how anomalous and unseemly your 
gloom ! Eecovered from an inveterate malady which 
had w^ell nigh proved fatal, — and sad! Pardoned, 
adopted, sealed, made a new creature, assured of the 
fact, — and yet sad ! Constituted an heir of God, a j oint 
heir with Christ, a title to that inheritance in your 
possession, which all the powers of Hell cannot in- 
validate, — and yet sad ! An indisputable claim to the 
exceeding great and precious promises of Scriptin-e as 
made to you — for *' all are yours"— and yet sad ! " T 
love the Bible," said Luther, '' for these pronouns, mine 



196 



1 



and thine." And is it so that God in Christ, and the 
consolatory truths of Scripture, and the glories of 
Heaven in your Elder Brother's right, and by foretaste, 
are all yours, and yet that you are often found vexing 
yourself with a thousand groundless fears ? O ! let 
it be your devout and resolute effort, henceforward, to 
cultivate "the cheerfulness of faith" — to rejoice ever- 
more ! 

Mr. T. advises a Christian friend to read Wesley's 
pastoral letters, with this warm recommendation : " If 
you have not lately, do read them. They always do 
me good. Having looked them over a few weeks 
back, I love them more than ever. O ! go fonvard, as 
he urges every one converted to do." These letters, 
perspicuous in style, breathing the purest spirit of 
piety, and exciting the renewed soul to follow hard 
after God, are worthy of a distinguished place among 
the best manuals of devotion. " Forward and active,'' 
Mr. T. adds. '' should be the Christian's watchwords." 

They were generally, but especially at this time, 
his own motto. The disturbance in the countr}^ 
having subsided, he devoted himself, with renewed 
zeal, to his holy calling, intent on doing and receiv- 
ing good. The sequel will show, as the preceding 
pages have already shown, that unreserved consecra- 
tion to God, on his part, was always the sure indica- 
tion of circuit prosperity : " Since I wrote last, my 
great Father has been unusually kind to me. Last 
week was the happiest I had since I came to Bandon. 
The Lord is inclining me to hunger and thirst after 
righteousness with much more earnestness ; and then 
He satisfies the hungerings himself has created. My 
highest joy now is of a more sober cast than that of 



197 

former years. I do not look for such rapture, but for 
enjoyment which is steady, solid, abiding. Lately, I 
have been often led to pray : ' O ! Lord teach me ; O ! 
Lord teach me.' Often have I earnestly pleaded this 
petition. And, also, ' ! Lord, keep me from mo- 
ment to moment dependent on thyself.' The death of 
Dr. Clarke, and now of Mr. Watson, has very deeply 
affected me. It is solemn work to grapple with death. 
I feel no uneasy thought at any time relative to my 
latter end ; rather, I have latelv felt much sweetness 
at times in looking forward to it. Daily I am thinking 
of that world in which I hope to spend a glorious 
eternity. We have no general stir on the circuit yet, 
nor even much prospect of it. I am, however, living 
in hope. A few have lately been stirred up to seek 
pmity of heart, and some have obtained pardon. 
Thanks to God for any good." 

The revival thus begun soon spread, and it may be 
traced, instrumentally, not merely to ministerial de- 
votedness and zeal, but to the harmony and united 
action of the office-bearers. Of this Mr. T. speaks 
with feelings of lively satisfaction and hope : " Our 
prospects brighten : the congregations are visibly on 
the increase. One was converted on Sunday week, 
another on Wednesday. There may have been more 
if I knew them ; and in this large society, where there 
are several aged leaders, we have not one jarring 
string. This is no small matter. I expect to see 
very good days in Bandon before I leave it." It can 
scarcely be supposed that all these official brethren 
thought alike upon every subject; but they subordi- 
nated everything to the promotion of spiritital religion 
upon their circuit. This, with them, was the weighty 



198 

matter. Other things were but as the '*mint, anise 
and cummin," in comparison. Would that such 
miity, godly love and co-operation were universal ! 

May 15, he mentions: *' A member of my class? 
sister to one of our preachers, was converted on Mon- 
day night while I was preaching ; on Sunday evening 
the feeling thi^ough the congregation was very general ;" 
and, June 17, he says: " Yesterday was a very happy 
day with me. My cup ran over. In the love-feast 
it was difficult for me to restrain my feelings. O I the 
weight of my obligations ! The forbearance, — 1 the 
forbearance of God!" Thus closed his first year in 
Band on. 

On his return from Conference, he entered upon 
his work with renewed zeal : "I have come back to 
Bandon resolved to lay myself out wholly for God. 
Never was I farther from being contented with my 
own state than at present, Holy myself, and souls 
converted to God, will satisfy me — nothing less." 
The desire for success became intense : *' My constant 
prayer relative to Bandon is, ' Let me see good in this 
place before I leave it, or die !' I have had delightful 
seasons in the closet the last month, and hope for a 
a continuance of them. God, I believe, will be 
with me." 

About this time his cousin, William Cranwill, died 
suddenly, but triumphantly, in Dublin. ** The news 
made me," says Mr. T., " glad and sorry." Had he 
witnessed the scene, at which it was my privilege to 
be present, the joyous emotion could scarcely fail to 
predominate; a scene impressively illusti^ating the 
sentiment : 



199 

" The chamber where the good man meets his fate 
Is privileged beyond the common walks, even of virtuous life,— • 
Quite in the verge of Heaven." 

Sent for in haste to visit the young man, I found him 
struggling with the last enemy. Previously converted 
and devoted to God, — through Christ strengthening 
him. he had so far triumphed as to be assured of ulti- 
mate victory. Thus persuaded of his own final safety, 
he had his widowed mother, his brother and sisters 
summoned to his bed-side, to receive his last charge. 
And such a charge! A few affectionately urgent 
counsels addressed to each, in rapid succession,— 
for he felt his end was at hand, — he concluded, 
with a tender request to his youngest sister, who was 
but a child, to follow him to Heaven ; while the 
weeping family responded, "We'll all follow you." 
His address to his mother was memorable as it was 
touching : " Mother, make the salvation of your soul 
your first concern, and leave temporal things to God." 
Exhausted with the effort, he rapidly sunk. 

In October, 1833, Mr. T. describes the state of 
things as presenting more favourable indications than 
he had witnessed previously ; improved congregations, 
more lively meetings, an increasing spirit of prayer 
and expectation, some conversions, and a sensible 
quickening in his own soul. Twice before since he 
came to Bandon was he '*much stirred up;" but he 
had not enjoyed such intimate and happy intercourse 
with Heaven as recently. " I think," he remarks, " I 
have more cause for gratitude, everything considered, 
than any other individual on earth. I enjoy much at 
the hand of God, and have very little to desire* Be- 
sides being in the Divine favour, I am a minister 




200 

among the people of my choice, — a people who, with 
all their faults, I consider by far the best upon earth. 
And God gives me to see some good doing. Withal 
I am still enabled to sing : 

^ Nor is the least a cheerful heart, 
That tastes those gifts Tsith joy.' " 

In Mr. T.'s case, — and in the case of how many be- 
side, — there was an inseparable connexion between im- 
portunate closet-prayer and fruit of his public labom's. 
A short note, addressed to me, October 25, 1833, con- 
tains his own sentiments on this subject : " I am 
always glad to hear from you, and always thankful 
when you deal plainly with me. I have long believed 
that closet labour is never unprofitable ; indeed, I do 
not expect success but in connexion with it. I have 
not spent a more profitable time for years than since 
last Conference. The Lord has been drawing me 
nearer to himself, and I trust will continue to do so. 
I am following hard after Him, and, I thank Him, not 
in vain. His dealings with me remind me of the 
tree planted by the rivers of water. I see that, if 
matters rise in Bandon, it will require a powerful and 
continued effort. May the Holy Spirit be shed forth 
abundantly!" 

The testimony he bears to the stability of those w^ho 
were, by their own profession, made subjects of re- 
newing grace, is worthy of notice: *' I observe the 
few who are converted on this circuit have had a very 
deep work wrought in them, and evidence a sound- 
ness of character not always to be met with in revival 
times." Meanwhile his own soul continued to pros- 
per: '* I generally enjoy sweet fellowship witli God, 



201 

and there are times when Heaven seems let down 
indeed. I am daily becoming fonder of Scripture 
study. The Word of God is a marvellous book. O 
that He may open my eyes to behold, more and more 
clearly, wondrous things out of His law." Then 
follow notices of what uniformly resulted, whenever 
his own spiritual state, as to its health and vigour, 
was improved — namely, circuit prosperity : " My wife, 
and two or three other pious women, have commenced 
a female prayer-meeting in my parlour. I do not 
hear of much fire as yet. My Monday night class 
has increased in number, and is blessedly alive. I 
am always quickened by meeting it. 

" A few weeks back I witnessed a remarkable in- 
stance of the mercy and power of God in the case of 

a young man named L . Mr. 0. asked me to see 

him. I found an educated, mild-spirited young man 
in the last stage of consumption. I paid him many 
visits, had good hope of him, but there was nothing 
clear, until Sunday, 27th October. After speaking to 
him of the very happy death of the saintly Fletcher^ 
I prayed with him, and felt myself that God was 
there. When I rose from my knees, he praised God 
aloud, and exclaimed, ' 0, Mother, I never felt so 
happy before ! ' Having taken his hand, in the act of 
bidding him good morning, I began to sing some 
verses of the 'joyful' hymn, when he broke out into 
such rapture as I have seldom witnessed. ' i 
mother, I never was so happy ! My heart is full of 
God ! I could not contain any more ! It is enough, 
Lord ! ! I long to go 7ioiv V Thus he continued 
tiU I left him." 

The services of Christmas-day, 1833, were emi- 



% 



202 

nently happy and hopeful : "' December 35 :— A very 
blessed day. The sacrament, after early preaching, 
remarkably good ; but, at eleven, while administering 
the precious ordinance to an afflicted family, we had 
such a season ! It was the overwhelming of love-^it 
was the fulness of God!" The love-feast the fol- 
lowing Sabbath he thus describes : " Such a meeting 
we have not had in Bandon in my time. God was 
in our midst. All seemed quickened. For some 
weeks I feel much encouraged to hope for good days. 
A few very promising young persons have been con- 
verted the last six months ; and now the fire is, I 
think, about to spread through our society at least. 
A few, who received the blessing of perfect love, are 
likely to be useful. We have fine material in Ban- 
don. The good doing is of the most solid description ; 
no noise, but a melting power which no heart ought 
to resist." 

A young friend who had commenced to preach, but 
was tempted to think he should by so doing lessen 
his own enjoyment, Mr. T. thus admonishes and 
directs : " You say you would be much more happy 
as a private Christian. No: no man was ever as 
happy as he who does something for God. It is be- 
neath the noble spirit of a Christian to live to him- 
self. Mr. Hadden is a man of whom I have a higher 
opinion every year I live. Make him your friend. 
He is a good and safe man. I will never, in time or 
Eternity, forget the day, the day of darkness, he said 
to me, ' Brother T., I would ride my horse across 
Ireland to serve you !' You ask 'will the people bear 
with me without variety ?' Mr. Fletcher used to say 
it is unction which makes the preacher. Simplicity, 



203 

unction, directness of aim, will carry a man through, 
where splendour would fail. There are such things 
as skeletons of sermons. Most of those which I have 
seen are worse than worthless. I am thankful I did 
not know such things existed when I became a 
preacher. You must read. Nothing will give variety 
to your preaching unless you give yourself to reading." 

January 29. — A few weeks after writing the above, 
he was enabled to communicate still more joyful 
tidings. Four young persons were converted the 
previous Monday night, and two others that morning. 
" Indeed," he says, " we see good doing now every- 
where we turn." Then he comments upon the cha- 
racter of the work : "I never saw a revival go on so 
quietly ; no noise, no bustle, no confusion, but a 
Heavenly influence which is ' as the dew unto Israel.' 
Yes; the operations of the Holy Spirit are like the 
small rain upon the tender herb. Some have re- 
ceived purity of heart, and several are earnestly seeking 
after it; but still there is something so gentle, so 
noiseless, as you have seldom seen. My own state 
is calm serenity and deep gratitude to God. may 
the good work spread wide ! More than thirty, in- 
cluding the young persons, have found peace with 
God lately. As yet it is confined entirely to the 
raembers of the society or congregation. May we be 
wise to spread every sail while the gale is passing!" 

Sometimes a disposition is unhappily manifested 
to doubt the reality of revivals of religion, except the 
circumstances are in accordance with certain pre-con- 
ceived notions and prejudices. If accompanied by 
noise, or what is termed irregularity, some will de- 
nounce them as the fruit of mere rant and fanaticism > 



204 

if the manner of them he the opposite, as just de- 
scribed by Mr. T., then others will consider them 
tame and flat, and consequently suspect their genuine- 
ness. Now, these errors are corrected by the great 
diversity of the Holy Spirit's operations — great as 
those of the ** wind," which, in its sovereignty, 
** bloweth" as " it listeth." It seems, therefore, an 
unwarrantable presumption to complain of the 7node 
in which that Divine Agent may choose to work upon 
the hearts of men. If, on some occasions, it be com- 
parable to the roaring storm, well. If, at other times, 
it be mild as the gentle zephyr, equally well. In both 
cases it is His prerogative to "do according to His 
will," and none should '' stay His hand, or say unto 
Him what does Thou ?" 

The features of the holy excitement, distinguishing 
it as truly the work of God, became still more marked. 
On January 16, 1834, Mr. T. proceeds to relate : " I 
trust the many prayers offered up for a revival of re- 
ligion in this town are about to be answered. I have 
been called on recently by persons in deep distress, 
enquiring ' what must I do to be saved ?' and have 
had a pleasure which only the Christian minister can 
know, in taking them to my study and praying with 
them. At our love-feast it was evident to all that God 
was deepening his work in the society. Some bore 
happy testimony to the great change lately wrought 
in their hearts. At this stage Mr. Fackman, a very 
earnest man of God, but a little rough, and Mr. Field 
from Cork, also a blessed revivalist, and very mild, 
visited Bandon. They saw the people were prepared 
to receive good, prayed and laboured in faith, and God 
has made their visit an eminent blessing. 



205 

" As nearly as I can leam, from ten to fifteen have 
obtained justification, and four or five the blessing of 
pure love, since Saturday last ; and what is yet more 
encouraging, expectation is raised, faith increased, 
and prayer offered on every hand. A few sneer w^ho 
should rejoice with us, but many are excited to grati- 
tude and zealous effort. I need hardly say that I 
have cordially co-operated with these good men whom 
God in His mercy sent to visit us at a most suitable 
time. I do delight to honour those whom God 
honours ; and am truly grateful to see His work car- 
ried on by ani/ instruments whom He chooses to em- 
ploy. Although not as sanguine in reference to re- 
vivals as formerly, there are several circumstances 
which encom-age the hope that this will be of a per- 
manent character. I called yesterday to visit the 
family with whom I had such a season on Christmas- 
day, and found that Mr. Fackman has been made in- 
strumental in the conversion of one of its members to 
w^hom I had often spoken, but apparently in vain. 
Two others, who thought it most unseemly to have 
anything like noise or disorder in the worship of 
God, screamed aloud, while we prayed, as if pierced 
with a sword. My Eliza has been greatly profited by 
Mr. Field's conversation and prayers ; so I can scarcely 
fail to be a gainer myself. My mind, uniformly calm, 
is much drawn to thankfulness in private and public. 
0, may this visit be an extended blessing ! One of 
its results will be an increase of labour, and I thought 
we had quite enough before ; but the promise mns, 
' As your day is, so shall your strength be.' " 

February 26, he states, as the result of the 
quarterly visitation of the classes, that he found in 

T 



206 

the Bandon society 278 members, including those on 
trial ; that now there were 376 ; that 34 of these pro- 
fessed to have received pardon of sin, and 12 entire 
sanctification, within the previous three months. "Of 
three of the latter," he remarks, " I entertain some 
doubts : with the rest I feel satisfied. The good 
work still goes on, but so quietly as 1 never saw be- 
fore." 

Unlike the famine, — cholera, now rife, was the oc- 
casion of deep and general anxiety for salvation ; and 
doubtless contributed, through grace, in no small de- 
gree, to the spiritual prosperity thus narrated: 
" Sixty persons," Mr. T. adds, *' in the town of Dun- 
manway, were swept away, in five weeks, by this 
dreadful disease." Then follow characteristic reflec- 
tions and counsels : " How well to be ready ! I hope 
you are all living for God to-day. Do. Our race of 
existence may be short. ! may the rest of our life 
be very well spent !" 

His motives for thankful joy became more power- 
fully operative, as his second year on this circuit drew 
to a close. " I often praise God aloud in my study," 
he writes to me in April, "that I am what I am. 1 
is it not glorious to live for Heaven myself, and to be 
instrumental in conducting others there ? Two per- 
sons, now recovering from typhus fever, were con- 
verted within the last sixteen months. Their ex- 
perience, while ill, would have done good to the stones 
of the wall, could they have heard ! Glory to God for 
examples, living and dying, that He is mighty to save 
to the uttermost, and to the end !" So cheering and 
profitable was it to witness the power of grace in one 
of these persons, that he often found it difficult to 



207 

drag himself from her bed-side, although aware it was 
unsafe to remain there long. For several months she 
had professed the enjoyment of perfect love, and he 
sometimes wished that those who questioned the at- 
tainableness of such privilege, were present to hear 
her converse on the deep things of God. His emo- 
tion was similar to that of Paul when he said : *' Ye 
are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read 
of all men." 

Appointed to the circuit for a third year, he entered 
on his work in the spirit most likely to ensure con- 
tinued and enlarged success : ''On my return from 
Wexford, in July, a train of circumstances led me to 
examine closely into the state of my heart. The re- 
sult was a calm resolve to seek after an increase of 
piety ; to let go and lose sight of everything preven- 
tive of such growth. Clearly perceiving that, if I 
grew in grace, some ground must be gained every 
day. I have, since then, made a daily effort to rise." 
As usual, the work of his hands prospered in propor- 
tion to the prosperity of the work of grace in his 
heart : *' Our two servants have been lately converted, 
and will, I trust, be a greater comfort to us. Six or 
eight have found salvation within these three weeks, 
among whom is a college lad, and two or three other 
young men who, if they go forward, will be useful." 

October 33, Mr. T. mentions an interesting fact 
of the Eev. William Smith, once a band-boy in a 
British regiment, but subsequently an able and po- 
pular Methodist minister in Ireland: " Old Mr. and 
Mrs. Smith took tea with us this evening. They 
have been fifty-six years walking together in the way 
to Heaven. He told me that he preached once in 



208 

Gravel Walk, at the commencement of his ministry, 
and that day foiiy years, — a Sabbath morning, — he 
preached in the same house, taking for his text I>eut, 
viii. 2, 8 : *Thou shalt remember all the way in which 
the Lord thy God led thee, these forty years,' &c. 
Both himself and his congregation were greatly af- 
fected." 

The night of the day on which he mentioned this 
incident, he himself preached on 2 Cor. iii. 2, 3, a 
sermon characterised by a bold origmality, and an 
encouraging degree of Heavenly unction. The pas- 
sage will, at least, be regarded as a suitable selection,, 
considering the period and the circumstances of his 
ministry : "Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts, 
kno\^Ti and read of all men : Forasmuch as ye are 
manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, mi- 
nistered by us, written not with ink, but with the 
Spirit of the living God ; not in tables of stone, but 
in fleshy tables of the heart." Writing to his mother, 
Mr. T. says: "I made the Lord Jesus the letter 
writer ; the preachers the pens ; the influences of the 
Holy Spirit the ink ; and believers the letter. I felt 
help from Heaven while endeavoming to write inde- 
libly upon the congregation." The history of John 
Bunyan, Richard Baxter, and many others, shows in- 
structively that, like then Divine Master, useful mi- 
nisters know "what sore temptations mean." The 
same letter records Mr. T.'s method of proceeding in 
seasons of severe mental conflict: "The last fort- 
night I have been tempted, bufi'eted, sifted. In this 
hurricane I tried to furl the sails, keep the vessel's head 
to the wind, and wait a favourable gale : it will come 
again, perhaps soon ; and then I will extend every 



209 

yard of canvass, and sail, if possible, ten knots an 
hour. Formerly, at such times, I yielded to depres- 
sion, fretted, and feared all was lost ; but I think I 
have discovered a more excellent way." 

December 1, he mentions having attended the 
funeral of a fine young man, a local preacher, the only 
surviving son of his mother, and she a widow ! Such 
events at all times exerted a solemn and salutary in- 
fluence on his heart, as his reflections and purposes 
prove to have been the case in this instance : *' The 
time is short. Let us redeem every hour of it. Our 
life should be one act of faith — a constant looking to, 
and rejoicing in, Jesus. Yesterday evening, for the 
first time in my life, I preached on Gal. vi. 14 ; but, 
if I live, it shall not be the last. What reason we 
have to glory in the cross of Christ !" 

As the year '34 drew to a close, he was, as he ex- 
presses it, very much in company, and very much 
alone. He had little intercourse with his people, ex- 
cept in a pastoral way, and that was extensive and 
constant. But there were only a few, in town or on 
circuit, with whom he could have fellowship of spirit. 
Yet, he writes to his brother : *' I am anything but 
alone in the world. The last fortnight, I spent a 
large portion of my time in company with that vene 
rable structure, the English language ; with Dr. Hugh 
Blair, of Edinburgh ; with Mrs. Hannah More ; and 
with the bishops and literati of the latter end of the 
past, and the first of the present, century. Hannah 
More was a very uncommon woman, and, for the last 
forty years of her life, sincerely pious. She always 
disliked Methodism ; but, if I get to Heaven, I hope 
to meet her there. She was another striking com- 
ment on the well-known words, ' Vanitv of vanities, 



210 

all is vanity/ She had all that earth could yield, and 
yet retired from the world, weary and disgusted, and 
sought her consolation from on high." Then he re- 
fers to the hopeful condition of his circuit as well as 
to the state of his heart : ''- The circuit is very like the 
season; weather fine, hut cold, and little growth; 
however, some early buds begin to appear, the pledge 
of next year's fruit ; and my heart rejoices to believe 
it is so spiritually. It is a profitable exercise, I find, 
daily to turn my thoughts to Heaven. I shall never, 
I trust, be as cold in my affections as I have too often 
been during the last twelve years. My judgment and 
will are invariably on the side of deep piety ; but the 
constant effort of cordial faith is that which carries 
me forward. 1 how sweet to feel my heart is the 
Lord's : to believe? adore, and love ! Everything 
short of this is splendid trifling. I had a letter to- 
day from W. E. to say all hope of life is gone ! How 
affecting to see Mend after friend drop off Hfe's bough I 
And to think of making friends In old age is out of 
the question ! Glory to God, I hope to live for ever !" 
The circuit from whence Mr. T. came out to travel 
was at that time the sphere of my labours. This letter 
contains an enquiry alluding to a remark once made to 
me bv him in famiUar conversation; a remark in 
which he employed a homely but forcible figm-e to 
illustrate his meaning. '" Almost all the people in 
this coimtry," he said, " passed through the fire of 
Methodism at one time or other. Some of them it 
made good stuff of; but the rest it turned into 
clinkers !" Whether the startling observation were 
universally applicable, might, perhaps, admit of a 
question ; as a general rule, with some exceptions, it 
was undoubtedly correct. The enquiry referred to in 



211 

the letter is the following : ** It is a long time since 
I heard anything of or from E. Huston. Is he mining 
out any fresh coal ? for, I fear, he will make little of 
the clinkers !" 

As the period of his energetic and effective ministry 
in Bandon was about to terminate, he fervently 
longed for still more signal success. His own words 
ai^e : " Our work for some time past has been hook 
and line fishing, rather than bringing nets full to 
land. How greatly should I rejoice in one good 
haul before I leave the circuit 1 Pray that in this 
matter God may give me the desire of my heart." 

Mr. Tackaberry's principles of conduct in relation 
to chxuit appointments were now called into opera^ 
tion. •' You ask me," he replies to the enquiry of a 
friend, " what I mean to do with myself next year. I 
answer I know not, and cannot tell. I never did 
anything to procure an appointment for myself but 
Wicklow, and I believe in that I was justified. Never- 
theless, I suffered more painful exercises of mind 
while on that circuit, arising from complex business 
affairs which I was appointed to administer, than in all 
the other years of my itinerant life. God, I believe, 
will fix my lot ; and I can, do, and will leave it to 
Him." Accordingly, at the district meeting, " the 
brethren," he says, ''would put my name down for 
Cork or Limerick. I was secretary, and did not enter 
it in the minute-book for any place ; but Mr. Stewart, 
the chairman, who is also our representative to the 
stationing committee, made the entry as above. Were 
I to choose I would prefer the north to the south ; but, 
if I am usefully employed, places to me are of small 
concern. I now leave the whole matter to take its 
course." 



CHAP. VII. 

1835-.1839. DEOGHEDA, BELFAST. 

While God, by His Providence, superintends the 
afifairs of the world, His Word warrants the persuasion 
that, especially in the case of His faithful ministers, 
that superintendence is most minute and paternal. 
His attention is continually directed towards their 
persons, their interests, their movements, guiding, 
controlling, over-ruling, preserving; so that, while 
found in the way of duty, they are " immortal till 
their work is done." Of this the Apostle Paul is an 
example. Many events in his history might be 
adduced to show that he was constantly the object of 
God's peculiar care. One shall suffice : "I am with 
thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee : for I 
have much people in this city" — (Acts xviii. 10) a 
passage demonstrating that the Saviom' watched over 
him and his work with more than ordinary solicitude. 
Mr. Tackaberry was a firm believer in this doctrine. 
And his faith was operative. It exerted the happiest 
influence upon his own mind, so that everywhere he 
attended to His Master's work without distraction. 
His re-appointment to the Drogheda Circuit was 
viewed by him as an arrangement made in Heaven ; 



213 

because, among other reasons he assigns, he had im- 
usual faculties for self-improvement. "It is almost 
as difficult," he observes, " to read closely in Bandon 
as in Dublin ; but here I can read more, and more to 
purpose, than in any other circuit I ever travelled." 

The practice of early rising was adopted by Mr. T., 
comdnced by the teaching and example of the wise 
and good, and knowing, from personal obser\^ation 
and experience, that it is, for many reasons, the more 
excellent way. The venerable William Ferguson once 
observed, in the Irish Conference, that he was now a 
member of that body of ministers, " owing to early 
rising!" And how many have fallen from their mi. 
nisterial position, — to say nothmg of the multitudes 
who have forfeited the privileges of chmxh member- 
ship, — through " softness and needless self-indul- 
gence !" *' I have again," writes Mr. T., Nov. 26, 
*' commenced my good five o'clock hour of rising, and 
although it affects my health, it is of incalculable 
advantage to my mind and heart. I will strive hard 
to keep to it." 

He did not witness the same extensive revival this 
time as when stationed here before; but knowing 
" there is joy in the presence of the angels of God 
over oiie sinner that repenteth," he exulted in the oc- 
casional conversions with which we were favoinred — 
for I happened to be his colleagnie in 1835-6. There- 
fore, he continues : "I am beginning to hope we shall 
see better days. Last Sunday night, after preaching, 
a female in deep distress asked me to call on her 
next day. Judging from her countenance how she 
felt, I brought her into my parlour, and set Mrs. 
Huston, Mrs. Browne, and my wife to pray with and 



214 

encourage her. She soon obtained relief, and went 
home happy. We are thankful for a little,'" 

Mr. T.'s mode of instructing his children, though 
familiar, was Scriptural and impressive. An example . 
is subjoined : *' Before they weiitto sleep on Saturday 
night I went into the room, when Maria said, ' Papa, 
we were speaking of Daniel, and how God kept the^ 
lions from eating him because he was good.' * Yes,' 
I said, 'He loved God, and God loved him.' * But, 
papa,' said Jane, 'how is it the Bible says God loves 
every one, even the animals ?' I answered, ' God 
loves bad men with a love of pity, but he hates their 
ways. He not only loves good people with a love of 
pleasure, but he loves their ways too.' Yesterday the 
little ones were looking out of the window, and Jane 
said, ' That girl is a Koman; I do not love her.' 
Happening to hear the remark, I said, ' Jane, should 
you not love every person ?' ' yes, papa, and I do 
love her with a love of pity, but I do not love her 
ways, because they are wrong.' Simple as these inci- 
dents were, they very much gratified me." 

In May, Mr. T. visited Dublin, on the occasion of 
the Annual District Meeting, when, as he relates, his 
heart was much cheered and comforted : ''I preached 
in Whitefriar Street on Thursday, with many melting 
recollections, to a congregation which can feel, and 
deeply too. At the close I had a hearty salute from 
two Bandon friends, one of whom was converted there 
my first year, and since has been very useful. They 
told me that others of my children after the common 
faith stand fast in the Lord" — in hearing which his 
joy was full. Then he proceeds to describe the 
preachers' children's breakfast-meeting, at which he 
was present: 



215 

*'• There were in all sixty- two persons. They were 
addressed by Messrs. Mayne, Ferguson, Deery, 
Murphy, Gillman, F. T., &c. A cast of Mr. Wesley 
was placed on the table, while a smiling company of 
his children and children's children sat around. 

" Mr. Mayne said that just fifty-one years ago that 
day, when a little boy, he heard the venerable Wesley 
preach. His heart was affected now at beholding his 
likeness, and calling former times to his remembrance. 
Little thought had he then of what he this day wit- 
nessed. 

"Mr. Ferguson told us he heard Mr .Wesley preach 
in the Danish fort at Clones in 1789, to about 4,000 
people, on 'Come, for all things are now ready;' and 
he gave us an outline of the sermon. Mr. W., he 
said, preached the following morning at five o'clock, 
on the circumcision of the heart. 

" Mr. Murphy was converted suddenly, after serving 
sin for nineteen years. All night he wrestled, and 
found Christ to be his Saviour at four o'clock in the 
morning. For fifty years he enjoyed his salvation. 
Mr. Mayne closed this exhilarating meeting with 
prayer," 

It was my privilege once to attend a similar meet- 
ing, in which the remark of a minister called up a 
venerable preacher's widow. " What shall I do, Mr. 
E.," said a lady in Cork, " to make my son a preacher?" 
" Teach him," said he, " to prefer eternity to time." 
Here Mrs. Myles rose, and apologising for the liberty, 
delivered an admonitory address to the young people, 
which seemed to produce deep impression, and the 
substance of which it may not be out of place to re- 
cord. It consisted chiefly of an incident in the life 



216 

of Mr. Rankin, one of the early preachers. A Mr. 
Griffin, at whose house he lodged, being dangerously 
ill, Mr. Rankin proposed to sit up, when Miss Griffin 
said, " No, sir, you ai^e fatigued; you must go to rest, 
and should anything happen to father in the night, 
you shall he awaked." He retired, and as he slept he 
dreamed. Standing at the gate of Heaven, he saw a 
person come up and ask admittance. *' ^Tiere is your 
passport ?" it was enquired. As a passport, a quan- 
tity of gold and silver was produced. "These," it 
was replied, "belong to time, this is eternity;" and 
admission was refused. A similar answer was given 
to one w^ho came with wills and probates as a pass- 
port ; and to another with lace, ribbons, and finery. 
At last one came flying to the gate, exclaiming : 
" The blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed me from all 
sin!" The gate flew open, and he was admitted 
with shouts of welcome. Just then there was a 
knock at the door. '' Come in. Miss Griffin," said Mr. 
Rankin, " I know what has occmTed : yoiu* father is 
dead. Just now, in my vision, I saw him enter 
Heaven !" The matronly lady thence took the op- 
portunity afl'ectionately to caution her young friends 
against the idolatrous love of the world. 

An adulatory account of Mr. T.'s serv^ices at the 
opening of Enniscorthy Chapel having been published, 
drew from him the following strictures, which show 
how lightly he esteemed the praise of men : " I saw 
the piece of splash-dash to which you refer. All who 
read it will laugh at us and the writer. Approbation 
judiciously expressed is a pleasant condiment to the 
mind; but our young friend's article is quite sur- 
feiting." 



217 

There can be little doubt that, but for the influence 
of the priests of Borne in this country, the Word of 
the Lord would have free course and be glorified. Like 
their prototypes of old, they shut up the kingdom of 
Heaven against men ; they neither go in themselves, 
nor will they suffer them that are entering to go in. 
To this tyranny Mr. T. thus alludes : " We walked 
over to Carrickmacross at seven o'clock, and I gave a 
temperance lecture to about 400 persons in the 
market-house, more than half of them Komanists. 
They heard with the deepest attention. I published 
for preaching the next evening, when, to my surprise, 
I had the large room packed to suffocation. Most of 
the Protestants in Carrick, with about 350 Komanisis, 
heard with solemn interest, while I applied the 
affectionate intreaty, the tender expostulation, Ezek. 
xxxiii. 11. This is amazing. I preached here in 
A^igust, 1822, to eight persons one evening and 
thirteen another ; and now we have by far the largest 
congregation on the circuit. But how long will this 
continue ? Till the priest hears and forbids. But 
many begin to feel the yoke is too heavy to be borne. 
The day of liberty draws near !" Mr. T. adds : 
" Brother H. and I talked over the week's work ; 
agreed to give some extra ministrations to Carrick, 
and thus spread our canvass to the passing gale, 
which is difficult, seeing our time is so fully occupied." 
Mr. T. had a soul formed for friendship, a heart 
susceptible of gratitude, the most ardent and endur- 
ing. Hence, his affectionate tribute of respect to the 
memory of Mrs. Doolittle : " A Waterford newspaper 
announces the death of my dear friend. There was 
not another minister's wife in our connexion with 

u 



218 

whom I could feel so like a son. The two years I 
was in Dublin she was to me a mother indeed. I 
transcribe a paragragh of the letter I wrote to-day to 
Mr. DooUttle : ' I knew Mrs. D. for sixteen years, and 
esteemed her more highly every month of that time. 
Often have our hearts burned within us while we 
talked of Jesus. She loved to converse on the deep 
things of God. Her strength of mind, soundness of 
judgment, thorough attachment to Methodism, dis- 
satisfaction with every^thing like display in Christian 
experience, in preaching, in manners; her steady, 
well-wearing, Scriptural piety all now pass before me. 
I shall not make many such friends in life. One likes 
to be loved, especially by the excellent of the earth. 
Her motherly, tender. Christian kindness to me ; her 
interest in all my interests, could not fail to take hold 
on my heart. Where shall I meet her like again ?' '* 
A dissatisiied, complaining temper, in a pai'ticular 
church, the temper indulged by parties whom no 
person or thing can please — the unenviable inheritance 
too often of such as have secret reasons for dissatis- 
faction with themselves — has ever been foimd a serious 
hindrance to the progress of personal and social piety. 
Widely dilfferent in its influence is the disposition of 
those who take their spiritual discontents, personal 
and relative, to the Throne of Grace, after the example 
of the Psalmist : "I poured out my complaint before 
Him; I showed before Him my trouble." Having 
painfully witnessed its operation in one part of the 
circuit, Mr. T. thus characterises the evil referred to : 
'* Yesterday morning's congregation was thin, and 
cool enough, too. The spirit of croaking and com- 
plaining has fallen upon them here, and until that 



219 

foul demon be cast out, little good will be received or 
done. He makes bright-countenanced praise a 
prisoner ; puts faith asleep ; and paralyzes the hands 
of zeal. Hence, the good work drags on heavily." 

He describes, in pleasant mood, the results of a 
narrow-minded and persecuting clergyman's efforts to 
banish Methodism from that part of the country: 
" Eighteen months ago he said he would drive Metho- 
dism out of ; but, alas ! the plague has spread 

from the extremity to the heart of his parish ! We 
have now, in the village of itself, one of the live- 
liest classes on the circuit. The clerk of the church 
the leader, the sexton and his family members, and 
more mischief likely to be done, for they have com- 
menced a prayer-meeting eveiy night. Terrible !" 

To walk in the light of God's countenance is to 
increase in his favour, to rise higher and higher daily 
in his esteem and approval. That this might be the' 
case with his mother, Mr. T. counsels her with all 
the solicitude of pure filial affection : " I tinist, my 
dear mother, you are daily seeking an increase of 
Heavenly-mindedness ; feeling a growing deadness to 
earth, and delight in the prospect of eternal gloiy. 
Those who do not trouble themselves about trifles, 
who live by faith, and cultivate the spirit of praise, 
share largely in the Divine regards. Peace, joy, and 
love are only seeds or slips when God plants them in 
our souls. It is ours to dig about, water, prune, 
guard, and grow them up into wide-spreading, fruit- 
bearing trees, and then to pluck off the fruit, while we 
sit imder their shadow with great delight. It is truly 
surprising, when properly cultured, how rapidly they 



220 

root, grow, and spread. Thanks to God that ever 
they were planted in our hearts ! 

" But, mother, what of thanksgiving? This also 
is a cutting from the Tree of Life in Heaven, the 
fruitfulness of which will be in proportion to its ex- 
ercise. Look around you ; review the past , survey | 
the mercies of a blessed futurity ; and say have you 
not superabundant matter for praise ? Perhaps you 
wipe the gushing tear, and say ' 0, yes ! But I have 
been miserably defective in thanksgiving.' What 
then ? Praise the Lord noiv, mother ! Now, now,, 
NOW, till you go to Heaven 1 ' Whoso offereth praise 
glorifieth me,' says Jehovah, Lord, if Thou art thus 
glorified, then will we glorify Thee 1 

' I will praise Thee, 
I will praise Thee, 
Where shall I Thy praise begin f 

May you praise Him for ever ! Amen. And so I 
believe it shall be, world without end !" 

The visit of the Eev. John Tackaberry, of America, 
to Ireland, in 1836, was looked forward to by the 
whole family circle with lively interest. The period 
of his sojourn was a season of high gratification and 
enjoyment to Mr. Fossey Tackaberry, who, at its ex- 
piration, makes these salutary reflections : " What a 
dream John's visit, and the scenes of the past nine 
months, now appear to me ! Such will life itself be 
when it is past. Dream though it was, it has vividly 
called up before my mind the whole of my early life ; 
that prospect which seemed so bright and beautiful 
in my days of boyhood. O ! with what gay colouring, 
what splendid drapery, youth and hope invest the 



221 

future of life ! So far as I have sought after and en- 
joyed religion, all my hopes have been reaUsed. The 
world is painted and unreal, mankind an ' unco squad,' 
and I myself have been the greatest fool of many. I 
take for granted Henry told you all about Liverpool, 
&c. This world is a chequered scene ; we meet and 
part, meet and part — soon to leave it. ! to be fully 
ready ! Happy in it ; ready to leave it ! This I hope 
to realise." 

At the Conference of 1837, Mr. T. was appointed 
to the Belfast circuit,— since then divided into two, 
North and South. A letter written to me in August, 
contains his description of the place, the work, his 
colleagues, and the other office-bearers. An extract 
is subjoined : " We have here 67 classes, containing 
more than 900 members, and a great many out-posts. 
The circuit horse was sold in June, and my oak stick 
is all the substitute, likely, which I shall have while 
on the circuit. This gives us a great deal of wearing 
labour. We walk two weeks out of three ; one called 
the town, another the vicinity, and another the country 
week. This is my vicinity week ; and last evening I 
went more than three miles, preached to six people, 
and then had the comfort of walking home. I must 
not complain, for Mr. Keilly and Mr. Grant do the 
same. We have a good, not a rich, society. Several 
of the leaders are right hearty men, and right hearty 
revivalists. On Sunday we had a field-meeting half 
a mile out of town. Sixteen hundred, I think, were 
present. Our people ardently hope for a revival, and 
the leaders are pushing us with both hands. You 
know the spirit of Mr. E., — cheerful, amiable, 
useful. And you have heard, if you do not know, of 



222 

good, zealous, dash-away Mr. G. Blessed spirits ! 
At an humble distance * 111 sing and follow too.' J We 
have penitent meetings in the different houses, and 
I think we will have a burst. Such a settledness I 
have not felt for some time. I am giving myself 
afresh to God and His work, and I believe I shall be 
brought nearer, much nearer, to Him. O ! if we get 
to Heaven at last ! Blessings brighten as they take 
their flight. I now think I love you and Mary Anne 
a great deal more than I was sensible of while with 
you." 

The next month he communicates additional par- 
ticulars to his brother Henry : " On Thursday, Aug. 
31, and Sunday, Sept. 3, our new chapel was opened 
by the Eev. Messrs. Newton and Lessey. Mr. N.'s 
subjects were Psalm xxvi. 8, and Komans i. 16. At 
twelve, Mr. Newton was pretty but not great ; in the 
evening he was quite himself. Mr. Lessey was great 
noon and- evening ; but he is not the same style of 
man or preacher as Mr. N. His sermons had more 
material but less beauty than Mr. N.'s. Everywhere 
I turn, I find our people hope for a revival. This is 
encouraging ; for, when hoped for, it is always prayed 
for and expected. Indeed, we have the commence- 
ment of it already. Our superintendent has as little 
of the domino about him as any man I know. Oiu- 
society is in a good state, and would have been in a 
better, but for the dissensions occasioned by the 
building of Frederick Street Chapel. 

" I need not tell you that the last two weeks, — Mrs. 

having been with us on a visit, — have not been 

the most studious. She is as amiable as ever. Till 
she came, I was rising at five o'clock — spending my 



223 

mornings in study, and redeeming time diligently, 
that is, diligently for me. To-day I am getting into my 
track again. At present, I am reading Campbell on 
the Gospels, and Watson's Sermons, which are beauti- 
ful and valuable. I also spend an hour every morn- 
ing comparing ten or twelve verses of the Pentateuch 
in Hebrew, Samaritan, Greek, Latin, and English. 
"WTiile this work is profitable, I do not let it occupy 
the time which should be given to other things. 
Pulpit preparation requires considerable attention ; 
the more so, since, in my opinion, the people here 
merit the character now which Mr. Wesley gave them 
sixty yeai's ago — viz. : ' The Belfast congregation is 
fully as intelligent as the Dublin one, but with this 
difference, — they know that very w^ell.* I am de- 
termined to speak plainly and leave the rest with 
God. The value of souls is impressed on my heart more 
and more, as also the nearness of eternity. I am striving 
hard to get nearer to God, and have some hours in 
secret which are worth worlds. My time may be short ; 
I should therefore be ready : and if it should be long, 
I shall have to give account, and therefore should 
watch and be useful." 

Henry had recently entered upon the work of an 
itinerant preacher in Ireland, from which, after a few 
years, upon the sudden death of his father, he deemed 
it his duty to retire. Mr. T. therefore proceeds to 
counsel him : " You are now fairly embarked in what 
I regard as the most important undertaking in which 
human being can be engaged. You have given your- 
self wholly to it, — an act which, if you live near to 
God, will never be a source of regret. In proportion 
to the depth of your piety, and the industry with 



224 

which you fill up your mind and time, will be 
your happiness, honour, usefulness. An idle preacher 
is a disgrace to his calling and to himself, while 
the hand of the diligent maketh rich. True, neither 
you nor I, no matter how holy and laborious^ 
will ever take our stand in the front ministerial 
rank ; but we may among the useful in time and 
eternity. Much will depend on the habits you now 
form — on the outline which you now mark out. Let 
not that outline be too much extended ; neither engage 
in too many things, nor hastily in anything; but once 
entered upon your course of well-considered duty, go 
forward steadily, doing a little every day, and it is 
surprising what will be effected in a few years. The 
venerable Wesley, for unwearied activity and useful- 
ness ; and the self-denying Baxter, for pathos, energy, 
and a determination to make the best of unfavourable 
circumstances, are glorious examples; and you can 
scarcely read human writings more valuable than 
theirs. It will be better for you to restrict yourself to 
a few choice authors, than to aim at reading many 
books. 

" In reading be systematic and deliberate, making 
your own of what you read. Get a small portion of 
Scripure well committed to memory every day. Keep 
close to the Word of God. Make one good sermon 
every fortnight ; resolve on this, and then keep to your 
determination. Pray, labour, expect to see souls con- 
verted. Never be satisfied otherwise. ! aim at this 
in every sermon. Be punctual. Go to yom* places 
in time. Never, on any account, be late. This, 
though a small matter, is of moment ; observe it. 
Begin the service at the proper time ; and, in general, 



225 

do not preach long — at least be short on week-days. 
Beware how you talk about one family on the circuit 
in another, or you may do irreparable mischief. And 
guard against egotism in speaking of home and family 
connexions. The less of controversy with Protestant 
Churches in your sermons and conversations the 
better. To whom does such preaching or conver- 
sation do good? Treat your superintendent wdth 
respect and attention when present, and speak of him 
respectfully when absent. In so doing you respect your- 
self. Never let an absent ministerial brother be the 
subject of contemptuous merriment. The people with 
whom you join in such merriment will despise you 
for so doing, and laugh at yourself when absent. My 
dear Henry, I love you, I pray for you, and wish you 
to be eyery thing that is wise and holy and useful. 
For this purpose let me farther advise you to form 
your public and private character by the teaching in 
Paul's Epistles to Timothy and Titus. Take care of 
your health, and may you live to be a blessing to 
thousands ! Once more : Are you humble ? If you 
be, continue so. Some young preachers greatly forget 
themselves. In a few years they become so inflated 
that you hardly know them to be the same men. Write 
the twelve rules of a helper in the blank leaves of 
your pocket Testament, and read them frequently. 
I am striving to keep these rules for conscience 
sake." 

The character of the young preacher on the Belfast 
circuit has been already noticed. He describes him 
subsequently more fully as "a simple-minded, pure- 
hearted, lively, loving, happy spirit;" adding, *' he is 
made very useful at the prayer-meetings. Mr. E. and I 



^26 

help him all we can. So do our leaders. He is 
setting us all on fire. Now and then a fine-eared 
lady or gentleman is offended by his plain speaking ; 
but to most of the people his ministrations are very 
profitable." 

Devoutly purposed to make full proof of his 
ministry, and thus realize the largest possible amount 
of success, Mr. T. sought the attainment of this end 
by means which, with him, had never failed, — namely, 
vigorous and growing personal piety. The large * 
population to which he had access ; the abundance of 
Protestant material ; the spirit of zeal, unity and co- t 
operation manifested by the circuit officers; and a 
prevailing impression or presentiment that eternity 
was at hand, all operated upon him as a powerful 
stimulus to "work" with increased energy ''while it 
was called to-day." Hence this record under date 
December 23, 1837: "I think the last half-year the 
best I have had for a long time. I have gained more 
in close communion with God than for some years 
before. I feel at times as if Heaven is very near to 
me, and I am not without hope of being more devoted 
to the Lord than I have ever yet been. Have not I 
cause to be thankful ?" 

He was "not without hope," because it was matter 
of contrivance as well as of resolution, — as he writes 
the ensuing month : "I am purposing how I may live 
more fully to God than I have done in all my life 
before. I do hope our circuit will look up in due 
season." The sincerity of his purpose and hopes he 
evinced by increased diligence in ''closet labour:'' 
" My seasons of richest blessings lately have been in 
private. Indeed, for some time past the Lord has 



2'27 

been unusually good to me in the closet. In the 
reading of His own Word, and of ' Howe's Blessed- 
ness of the Kighteous,' I have been much profited. 
But in meditation and prayer my cup often flows 
over. I feel eternity to be inexpressibly near. I 
wish I had breathed my every breath for it these four- 
and-twenty years. O ! that I may do so from this 
day forth and for ever ! Often have I felt applied, 
while sitting in this little study, surrounded w4th 
mercies, the words of Joshua : ' Ye know in all your 
hearts and in all your souls, that not one good thing 
hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your 
God spake concerning you ; all are come to pass, and 
not one thing hath failed thereof.' This my heart 
feels to its very centre. And then the prospect of 
being for ever with the Lord ! The very thought is 
overwhelming. And I feel it so near, so very near, 
that it seems but a moment until we are there." 

The centenary movement shared his approving 
sympathy and cordial co-operation : " You have heard 
of the noble centenary doings. I am glad of this for 
the sake of Methodism : it shall be told for a me- 
morial of her. And no doubt God is well pleased 
with these grateful offerings of His people ; but while 
frightful, abominable Popery is encouraged by the 
nation as it is, I cannot help fearing that judicial 
visitations will follow, though there be many more 
than fifty righteous men in our cities. O ! that Pro- 
testantism may awake and arise hefore it is too late !" 

Fever was rife at this time. He notices the 
tranquilly-triumphant end of two youthful members 
of his flock with melancholy pleasure: "Death is 
making great havoc around us. We buried Margaret 



228 

Porter yesterday, one of the finest girls in Belfast — 
intellectual, accomplished, and pious. A few weeks 
back she was as likely to live as any person I ever 
saw. Her death was glorious. And this morning 
Sarah Owen is gone, a mild, gentle spirit, one who 
suffered much, yet said little, and who, after adorning 
the Gospel for nearly four years, fell asleep in Jesus, 
— silent as morning dews." 

On a Monday evening he preached Miss Porter's 
funeral sermon to more than a Sabbath congregation, 
on 1 Cor. XV. 5, 7. " Thanks be to God w^ho giveth 
us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." *' She 
was a very extraordinary young person," he observes, 
" had been religious in early youth, but left her first 
love, and for years had ceased to meet in class ; 
was re-awakened last February ; and from that time, 
until her death, lived quite on the verge of Heaven. 
Even in the depression inseparable from typhus fever, 
she glorified God, and died very triumphantly." 

His devotional exercises in secret became increas- 
ingly refreshing : " Taking the last six weeks as a 
whole, they have been, by many degrees, the best I 
have spent in Belfast. I feel a power with God in 
the closet, an unusual sweetness and enjoyment in 
reading His Word, and a nearness to God and 
Heaven, at which I often wonder. Indeed my mind 
has often been in that state latterly, that only I am 
called on to live for others, I should long, — earnestly 
long, — to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 
The Lord is very good — I could hardly tell you how 
good, to me : * He restoreth my soul ; He leadeth me 
in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.' I 
feel as if I trod the very verge of eternity. ! may I 



229 

be ready to enter it at a moment's warning !" Accord- 
ingly, his field of labour was soon visited with a 
gracious rain : " You wish to hear how the Belfast 
circuit is doing. We had our love-feast on Sunday, 
December 16. About 550 present. The best 
meeting I have yet seen in Belfast. My text was, 
* They that are with Him are called, and chosen, and 
faithful'" — (Eev. xvii, 14.) He had freedom in preach- 
ing, and at the love-feast, especially, there was 
distinct good done. 

Mr. T.'s views of the duties incumbent on a mi- 
nister's wife may be gathered from the following 
letter, addressed to Mrs. Huston, dated Patrick 
Street, Belfast, January 12, 1838: "It will take a 
great deal to cure me of living over the past again 
and again, — thus losing sight of the present. Many, 
many times have I thought these six months, ' Well, 
I wish I had received more good from my dear Mary 
Anne the two years I lived at her door ; and, O ! I 
wish I had endeavoured, by my example, conversation, 
manner, to be more useful to her.' Then the thought 
comes : ' Should any favourable wind blow us together 
again, how I will live !' That may — I hope will be ; 
aye, but it may never be on this side Heaven ! Then 
I will neither so feel about the past, or anticipate the 
future, as to forget present duty. Are you meeting a 
class ? Are you laying yourself out for God as you 
have often wished, hoped, aye and determined too ? 
What if you would take Mrs. Kogers for your ex- 
ample, until you find a better ? Bead her letters — 
read Mr. Wesley's letters. Up, woman ! live, breathe 
and act for God ! You say, ' I have an example in 
my mother.' Yes; but you are differently circum 



2eS0 

stanced. She had hindrances to zeal and effort which 
you have not. You have a larger field, and more 
powerful motives for usefulness than she had. Work, 
therefore, while it is day. The night cometh. Yes ; 
determine, sick or well — strong or weak — cheerful 
or depressed — at home or abroad — live long or 
short — I will do what I can for my Divine Master. 
What a testimony borne by the Kedeemer to the 
woman in the Gospel : ' She hath done what she 
GOULD !' May this eulogy be yours !" 

He and his brother ministers met weekly for mutual 
improvement in sermonizing: "Mr. Eeilly, Mr. 
Grant, and myself have commenced a practice which 
promises to be very advantageous to Mr. G. and me. 
A text of Scripture is selected every Saturday, on 
which we write our thoughts by that day week. We 
breakfast together at Mr. E.'s and here alternately, 
when each reads his sketch, on which the others make 
observ^ations. Each one selects a text in turn. There 
are two reasons why Mr. E.'s skeletons are not criti- 
cised so freely as Mr. G.'s and mine. He is a better 
sermonizer, superintendent of the circuit, and chair- 
man of the district. His observations are very 
valuable to us. I cannot say ours are to him. 
It is understood that such a passage be chosen as 
will lead to the consideration of some important doc- 
trine of the Gospel. Mr. E.'s observations on Heb. 
iv. 14-16 were very beautiful, especially on the time 
of need, and the sympathy of Christ. 

" On Col. i. 21, 22, ' And you, that were sometimes 
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, 
yet now hath He reconciled, in the body of His flesh. 



231 

through death, to present you holy and unblameable, 
and unreproveable in His sight.' 

" Keilly's division : Keconciliation — in its nature, 
efficacy, and end. 

" Tackaberry's : We have here — First, the state in 
which the Gospel finds man ; secondly, the state to 
which it brings him ; and thirdly, the state to which it 
will eventually raise him. 

'' Mr. Grant's I have mislaid. 

" On 1 Thess. v. 19, ' Quench not the spirit.' 

"Eeilly's division: First, the doctrine of the Holy 
Spirit, as assumed by the apostle ; secondly, the brief 
but solemn admonition of the text; thirdly, some 
motives to urge that admonition. 

" Tackaberry's : First, explain the language ; 
secondly, enforce the exhortation of the text. 

'' Grant's : First, the divinity and personality of the 
Holy Spirit ; secondly, His operations ; thirdly. His 
influences, which may be withdrawn; fourthly, in 
what manner He should be treated. 

" On Luke xxiv. 46, 47 — ' Thus it is written, and 
thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the 
dead the third day ; and that repentance and re- 
mission of sins should be preached in His name 
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.' 

'' Reilly's division : First, the two principal facts by 
which the scheme of human redemption is effected ; 
secondly, tnu t^^ leading doctrines by which it is ap- 
plied ; thirdly, the order in wlilC!: it ^^ Promulgated. 

" Tackaberry's : In our text Christ directs the atten- 
tion of His apostles to — first, the important facts 
which they are to testify; secondly, the leading 
doctrines which they are to preach. 



232 

'* Grant's was ' a brief summary of Gospel histor}% 
Christian doctrine, and ministerial duty.' " 

Mr. Eeilly and Mr. Tackaberry preached at the 
opening of Wesley Place Chapel, of which Mr. T. 
says, " It is extremely neat ; situated in a nice neigh- 
bourhood in the suburbs of the town ; will seat be- 
tween two and three hundred ; and there is room for 
a gallery when required. It was built by Wm. M'Con- 
nell, Esq., a member of our society here, at an ex- 
pense of £450 ; and he has settled it on the Conference 
plan, without costing the connexion a penny, and 
without compromising a single principle of Metho-# 
dism. There is to be no collection at the opening; 
and a few other matters which Mr. M'Connell wishes j* 
will, of course, be attended to." 

So amiable was the spirit, so engaging the man- 
ners of the Eev. Charles Mayne, that Mr. T.'s 
testimony will obtain ready credence from all who 
knew him : " We have just heard that Mr. Mayue 
was buried on Wednesday last. Lord, what is life 1 

I have heard himself evil spoken of; but never 

did I hear a human being speak unkindly of Charles 
Mayne." 

The duties of the circuit had now become so nume- 
rous and urgent, with the prospect that they would 
soon be more so, that Mr. T. writes : *' The leaders 
and stewai'ds waited on Mr. E. the other day, in a body^ 
to beg of him that neither he nor I should b6 out of 
Belfast on a Sabbath, except the occasion were a very 
special one. I do not like this, but must submit. 
Since then I had to say nay to three applications, one 
of them from my old friends in Ballinamore. This I 
regretted ; but all is well." The next paragraph 



233 

shows the necessity of giving his whole time and 
attention to his own circuit : "I have set my heart 
on getting two small chapels built before I leave — in 
two very neglected outlets of this populous town. 
They will cost but £200 each ; nevertheless, if I 
engage in them they will give me some trouble. The 
two new ones, opened since we came here, are well 
attended, and will, I hope, be better attended by and 
by." 

His description of the state of the circuit, at the 
close of his second year, is reviving : " Our centenary 
meeting, love-feast, and quarterly leaders' meeting, 
held within a short period, have all left very pleasing 
recollections. Tho first exceeded our expectations, 
the second w^as good, and the third gave us an agreeable 
surprise. The income is better than at any former 
time; and hence the stewards have paid off £45 of 
their circuit debt. The classes are increasing in 
number and steadiness, and the tone of our leaders' 
meeting is much improved. Mr. E. and I were 
unanimously invited by the quarterly meeting to remain 
a third year, and soon after doing so they added the 
name of Mr. G., so that the whole three are cordially 
asked to continue with them. How the Conference 
may dispose of this is another matter. We have now 
a better prospect than at any period since our appoint- 
ment. Several in the prayer-meetmgs and classes 
have been converted lately, and the number is daily 
increasing. I should not v/onder if we are near great 
good. I was in last Sunday night's meeting up to 
eleven o'clock, and even then the people showed some 
reluctance to leave. We sometimes permit persons 
who receive good to declare what God has done for 
their souls. We did so last Sunday night, and it 



234 

had a melting and subduing effect upon the congre- 
gation. Strange to say, we have seldom any noise in 
those meetings ; and yet the people tremble as if 
their very heart was shaken, and sometimes they fall. 
This is the best field for Methodism in Ii^eland. In 
a few years it will very much take the lead of Dublin, 
both in members and influence." Yet even this he 
regarded as requiring a proviso : '' Party feeling, 
somewhat subsiding, I hope will subside, and if it 
does, we will see good days in Belfast." 

He gives a vivid account of a visit he made to the 
Giant's Causeway, in 1839 : " Went to visit that ex- 
traordinary natural curiosity, the Giant's Causeway, 
Extraordinary it is, indeed. Nothing I had read 
or heard, or seen, conveyed any idea of it as it 
is to my mind. The surface or ground plan is 
more like a honey-comb than anything else to which 
I can compare it; but, instead of being empty, 
every cell is a stone of twelve or fifteen inches in 
diameter, so closely joined that you could not in- 
sert the blade of a knife between them ; and yet in 
no wise fastened the one to the other. No person 
knows how deep these columns go down in the earth ; 
but, in several places, they are twenty feet high. 
When I examined, I found a joint at about every 
fourteen inches of the columns ; every joint resting 
in the other by a convex into a concave, or by a con- 
cave upon a convex. Like all the other works of 
nature, I found it was a splendid piece of regular 
irregularity. All these basaltic columns bear a strik- 
ing resemblance to each other, and yet I saw no two 
exactly alike, which, I imagine, is the case through the 
whole Causeway. Some had four, five, six, seven and 
eight sides, and yet no two were the same. I saw but 



235 

one perfect four-sided one, and that was the square 
called the Ehomboid. For seven miles into the 
country, wherever they open quarries, the same sort 
of pillars are found ! Some say they were caused by 
volcanic agency. I do not think so. I believe, if not 
a primaiy creation, which I doubt, they owe their 
present form to crystalization on a great scale. 

'' From this we went to Dunluce Castle, once the 
seat of boisterous revelry, but now in ruins ; and 
afterwards we visited — where think you ? The house 
in w^hich Adam Clarke was reared. It is very much 

like ; all the farm houses in that country are 

long and low. We saw the walls of the church in 
which he worshipped before he knew Methodism, and 
in which he first received the sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper; the field at the back of his father's house in 
which he found peace with God ; the part of the sea 
near his father's w^here he believed he was drowned, 
but miraculously saved again ; the house in Port- 
stuart which he purchased the year before his death, 
when he could not get his favourite meadow to build 
on ; also, the sun-dial in Mr. Cromie's garden, which 
the Doctor had engraved and presented to that gen- 
tleman. I copied three inscriptions from the dial, 
but had not time to copy two others. They are quite 
like the Doctor : 

M . Go about yom* business. * 

' '2. We are time's subjects, and time bids us begone, 
' 3. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from 
above, and cometh down from the Father of lights. — 
(James i. IT.) 

' To John Cromie, Esq., of Portstuart. May his 
shadow be extended for ever. 

x\dam Clarke, LL.D., 1830/ 



I 



S36 

" At dinner, I had a long conversation with Mr. J. 
Gait, one of Dr. Clarke's school-fellows ; and while 
he talked, I wrote on my knee in short hand. Dr. 
C. told him that, one evening after school, Mr. Mark 
O'Neil said : ' Adam, there is a Methodist preacher 
to preach this evening at — — . Will you come and 
hear him ?' ' What is a Methodist preacher ?' ' I 
do not know.' ' What is he like ?' ' I do not know, 
but I will go and hear him.' * So will I.' * Upon 
entering the house,' said the Dr., * I was werj much 
struck ; a tall man, with lank hair, was standing be- 
hind a chair, with a book in his hand. He gave out 
and sung a hymn, which seemed very pretty to me, 
for I had never heard one before. He then prayed, 
but I thought all his prayer was at me. Then he 
read a portion of the Bible which he called his text, 
and I liked his sermon, but I thought he preached it 
all at me. When done, he came over, laid his hand 
on my head, and said, * for what purpose do you come 
here?' 'I do not know.' At the end of a fortnight 
he preached again. I was there. Again he laid his 
hand on my head, and asked me why I came? I 
said, ' Because I like what you say.' ' This,' said the 
Dr., 'was the beginning of my going to preaching.' 
Mr. M. O'N., his school-fellow who took him, never 
went again. I felt much interested in everything re- 
lating to the good old Doctor." 

Among other means which Mr. T. employed to 
promote the revival of religion on his circuit was out- 
door preaching: " I was on the street," he writes, in 
July, 1839, "at five o'clock the last two Sabbaths, be- J 
sides attending to my other work ; we had a large 
assembly, an attentive hearing each time, and a 
blessed prayer-meeting last Sunday night. Several 



237 

stood up and testified of God's pardoning love." 
Three sermons — one of them, out of doors — and a pro- 
tracted prayer-meeting, exhibit him truly as the 
EAENEST MINISTER, Supremely intent on saving souls 
from death. And he had his reward in the joyous 
testimonies which crowned the day. 

The love-feast in December following gave indication 
that he should soon see the Divine power and glory dis- 
played : " It would have cheered yom* heart for weeks to 
come," he informs his mother, " had you been present 
at our love-feast last Sunday. The friends here say it 
was the largest ever held in Belfast. Our principal 
chapel was as full below and above stairs as the people 
could sit, and there was a propriety, richness, unction 
about the speaking, seldom equalled in my experience 
of such meetings. I should not wonder if we have a 
great work this winter yet. 0, mother I It is very 
easy to be good in this place. I often think, if we live 
to leave it, we shall feel ashamed that we did not make 
more progress while in it — so many helps, so few 
hindrances. It is the best Methodist soil in the 
kingdom." 

About this time Belfast was visited with fever of a 
most malignant kind. Many were its victims ; among 
others, good James Kilpatrick, whose mind, in the 
prospect of death, w^as in a most joyous state. " Sel- 
dom," says Mr. T., " have I been more gratified, 
Happy, happy, very happy I glory to God 1 You are 
not to suppose," he adds^ to quiet a parent's fears, 
'' that because I am frequently at fever beds, and in 
the hospital, I am in much danger. In the first 
place, I do not believe any ordinary fever will be 
taken at eight feet distance from the sick person's 



238 

mouth ; and I avoid going very near. In the second, 
those who are not afraid are in little danger of taking 
it, even where the breath is inhaled ; but I am now no 
more afraid in the hospital than in my own parlour — 
such is the power of habit — and my visits are always 
short, too." In reading this paragraph, some will 
recur to the fact that Mr. T. died of fever, caught, in 
the overflowing of his charity, by the non-observance 
of his own prudential rules. 4, 

The gracious influence sought and expected in un- ' 
wavering faith now rested in a remarkable degree on 
the congregation. *' The power of the Lord was pre- 
sent to heal them :" '* Never, ^since we came to this 
town, were m^atters in as good a state as the present. 
Our special prayer-meetings (held on Tuesday even- 
ings) are most glorious seasons. I have seldom seen 
anything like them. That on Tuesday, 28th Januaiy, 
was one of the most hallowed and hallowing I have 
known. Several obtained forgiveness and the heart- 
renewing love : but the distinguishing feature of the 
meeting was, all present were bowed in spirit before 
the Most High, all seemed to receive good. I would 
not trust my own testimony in a matter of this kind, 
as I have not known Belfast long ; but our oldest 
leaders say they have seen nothing like that evening. 
Our leaders are very blessed men of God. Of SOIue- 
of them it may be said, as of Stephen, they are * full 
of faith and of the Holy Ghost.' I expect we are 
about to have a still more glorious work here. O ! 
that I could witness a thousand souls converted to 
God ! Lord ! enlarge our hearts, and let our eyes 
see it! see it soon !" Desirous to see a thousand, he 
does not fail to rejoice over one who had '' found par- 



239 

don, after seeking it for seven years." This case he 
mentions, February 24, 1840. The work going for- 
ward was wonderful to the ministers themselves. 

Mr. T. was now in labours more abundant, — on one 
Sabbath more abundant than justifiable, if the excess 
could have been avoided : "I preached a funeral ser- 
mon," he says, " on last Sunday at four o'clock ; 
preached on the street at half-past ^Ye ; and in our 
largest chapel at seven — besides the morning service; 
but I was not the better of it for three days !" 

The faithful and untiring labours of himself and 
his colleagues resulted in a glorious harvest, — another 
example demonstrating that/n«f in such case is ever 
in proportion to the painstaking culture bestowed, — - 
that this at least is the general rule. 

''We have really wonderful Methodistic times," 
continues his epistolary narrative, " in this town at 
present. Yesterday we held our March love-feast. 
I have seen nothing in my life which I thought 
equalled it in richness, and I do not expect to see 
anything better this side Heaven ! There were about 
850 in the meeting. More than half of those who 
spoke testified to the all-cleansing power of the blood 
of Christ. All who spoke, spoke well. There was such 
a mixtm-e of soundness, propriety, coolness — of praise, 
love, joy, with solemnity, reverence, and awe ! The 
feeling produced was quite overpowering. At three 
the meeting was adjourned until after the evening 
sermon. The influence did not equal that of the 
morning, yet it was a glorious night too ! We hear of 
some made happy in the classes and in families ; and 
we see some in the meetings every week. All this is 
without any confusion — I might say without any noise. 



240 

On the evening of Sunday, March 1, I saw several 
weep till you would imagine they should cry aloud or 
fall down, hut they restrained themselves. Some of 
these very persons, at that same meeting, were made 
as happy as human nature could well hear, and yet 
there w^as no irreverent joy. 

*' I have not kept any account of the numhers saved 
the last three months, hut they must he very consi- 
derable — perhaps I would not be above the truth if I 
said there w^ere hundi^eds. The tide of holy excitement 
continues to flow, and we — preachers and leaders — 
seem determined not to expect an ebb. We hold a 
special prayer-meeting every Sabbath evening after 
preaching; and another on Tuesday evening, at 
eight o'clock, to suit the hundreds who are employed 
m the flax and cotton mills. The school seats 350, 
and it will not much longer contain us, if the meet- 
ings continue to increase. After three or four persons 
have prayed, we invite all who are seeking pardon of 
sin or perfect love to come to what we call the peni- 
tents' benches, or to the communion rails and front 
pews, if in the chapel. Numbers, varying from 20 to 
70, usually accept the invitation ; and I remember no 
evening, for many weeks, in which from 3 to 20 did 
not profess to have received the good they came to 
seek. There is always one preacher present from 
the commencement to the close — namely, the one 
whose time it is to be in town. The country and 
vicinity man is in, say at or before nine o'clock. The 
meetings are always dismissed at ten o'clock, that 
any who please may withdraw, resumed again with 
those who remain, and continued to half-past ten or 
eleven. This is what I disapprove of most. These 



241 

meetings, I need hardly say, occasion exhausting 
labour, but they gloriously increase our joy in the 
Lord. Two or three young men, I expect, will be 
candidates for om* ministry next Conference from this 
circuit. The one who went out last year is doing 
very well. I doubt if there be such leaders as those 
we have here in any circuit in Ireland or England. 
May God bless them ! Where my lot may be cast 
next year, if I live, I cannot tell ; nor am I anxious 
about it." 

His whole effort seemed directed,- — how simple, how 
sublime the object, — to the promotion of holy living 
as a preparation for happy dying ! His last communi- 
cation, at the close of his three years' appointment, — 
melancholy in one view, — is yet a precious record of 
safe, though sudden, death. He had just returned 
from Conference : " Last evening I reached home ; 
all my family well ; but the sudden death of Mrs. 
x^exander Murphy, one of the best women in Belfast, 
and a member of my class, leaving a husband and 
eight children, has thrown a gloom over the whole 
society. She was a saint of the Most High." 

The fact which he notices briefly, immediately on 
his arrival in his new circuit, explains the estimate in 
which he was held by those whom he had left : 
''There were hundreds on the quay at Belfast to say 
and look farewell. I felt much — they are a kind 
people." 



CHAP. VIIl. 

1840-1843. — ^COEK, DERRY. 

Mr. Tackaberry's next appointment was to a city of 
no mean note in Methodism — a city where the 
Wesleys and their helpers preached the Gospel at the 
first " with much contention." Seldom have the 
Methodists been subjected to such brutal, malicious, 
and protracted persecution as in Cork. Officers of 
justice and rampant mobs combined together to expel 
from the city this sect everywhere spoken against. 
Depositions, accusing the principal rioters of various 
acts of outrage, were laid before the Grand Jury, 
who threw them all out, and at the same time made 
that memorable presentment, "worthy to be pre- 
served," says Mr. Wesley, " in the annals of Ireland, 
to all succeeding generations." It ran thus : " We 
find and present Charles Wesley to be a person of 
ill-fame, a vagabond, and a common disturber of his 
Majesty's peace, and we pray he may be transported." 
Eight other preachers and expounders of God's Word 
were similarly presented. Ultimately British justice 
triumphed, and persecution ceased. Meanwhile, the 
more the Methodists were oppressed, like the Israel- 
ites in Egypt, the more they multiplied and grew. 
*' Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, 
neither is there any divination against Israel : accord- 



243 

ing to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, 
what hath God wrought ?" 

Methodism in Cork has been subject to fluctuation 
from the first : from being frowned on and execrated, 
and its ministers and people treated with all manner 
of indignity, it rose high in public esteem during the 
lifetime of Mr. Wesley himself. — Friday, June 21, 
1765, he observes: " About five I began in George's 
Street at Cork, the opposite corner of the town from 
the new room. Many of the chief of the city were 
of the audience, clergy as well as laity. What a 
change ! Formerly we could not walk through this 
street but at the peril of our lives. "^^ Again, nearly 
twenty-two years after, he says : "At six in the even- 
ing the preaching-house would ill contain the con- 
gregation ; and many of the rich and honourable were 
among them 1 W^ho hath warned these to flee from 
the wrath to eome?"t He notices the declension of 
religion in the Cork society, and traces it partly to 
the influence of worldly favour, and partly to internal 
division and strife : " I took an account of the society, 
and was grieved, though not surprised, to find such a 
declension. I left 290 members; I find only 233. 

=^ ^ Our evening congregations this week were 
smaller than usual, as the gentry were engaged in a 
more important affair. A company of players were in 
town. However, many of them came on Friday, for a 
watch-night was newer to them than a comedy. "| 

Again : "■ I returned to Cork, and met the classes. 
After all the pompous accounts I had of the vast in- 
crease of the society, it is not increased at all. Nay, 

* Works, vol. ni., p. 226. + Ibid, vol. IV., p. 872. 
J Ibid, vol. III., p. 13. 



244 

it is a little smaller than it was three years ago. 
Many of the members are alive to God, but the smilmg 
world hangs heavy upon them.''^ 

The declension had its internal causes as well : 
**Two years ago I left above 300 in the society; I 
find 187. What has occasioned so considerable a 
reduction ? I believe the real cause is this : misun- 
derstandings crept in between the leaders, and between 
some of them and the preachers. And these increased 
seven-fold, when one of the leaders was expelled the 
society ; some believing him faulty, some not : and 
neither side having patience with the other. Hence, 
a flame of anger succeeded the flame of love, and 
many were destroyed by it. At the same time some 
of our brethren learned a new opinion, and warmly 
propagated it. This heat was almost as destructive 
as the former ; and the effect of both was, the Spirt of 
God was grieved, His blessing was withheld, and, of 
course, the flock was scattered. When they are con- 
vinced of their sin, and humbled before Him, then, and 
not before, He will return, "f 

The following were the measures employed by Mr. 
Wesley as a remedy for the state of things complained 
of: "Between two and three years ago, when the 
society was as low as it is now, Thomas Taylor and 
William Pennington came to Cork. They were 
zealous men, and sound preachers; full of activity, 
and strict in discipline, without respect of persons. 
They set up meetings for prayer in several places, and 
preached abroad at both ends of the city. Hearers 
swiftly increased ; the society increased ; so did the 
number both of the convinced and the converted. 
* Works, vol. IV., p. 121. + Ibid, vol. III., p. 280. 



245 

More and more were stirred up, and there was a 
greater av/akening here than in any part of the king- 
dom."^ From a subsequent record, the labours of 
one of these preachers seem to have been remarkably 
owned of God : *' May 1, I examined the society, and 
found it in such order, so increased both in number 
and grace, as I apprehend it had not been before, 
since the time of William Pennington. "f 

The style of preaching he considered necessary to 
this end was — not that v>^hich gratifies a morbid taste 
for intellectual refinements, which aims to please 
'' itching ears that turn away" from plain, scriptural, 
saving *' truth"— but which seeks to convince, alarm, 
persuade, — and thus save souls from death. This 
style he inculcated of set purpose in Cork, by his own 
example : '* Simday, 28th, returned to Cork. The 
rain drove us into the house, which was once more 
thoroughly filled, I scarce ever spoke so plain as I did 
this and the two following days, Friday, God was with 
us during the application of those awful words, ' Where 
their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.' "| 

In this city Mr. Tackaberry, having the Kev. James 
B. Gillman for his superintendent, commenced his 
labours under favourable auspices. *' Our Sunday 
congregations," he writes, " are noble. The last four 
or ^NQ weeks they have averaged 700 to 800. Most 
persons who do not reckon," — as he was in the habit 
of doing, — ■'' would call them ten or twelve hundred. 
I held a prayer-meeting the last two Sunday nights. 
About thirty or forty came forward as penitents, and 
some professed to receive peace with God each time." 

* Works, vol. III. p. 280. + Ibid, vol. IV., p. 43. 
X Ibid, vol. III., p. 364. 



S46 

One of the young men, now in the Wesleyan ministry 
in Ireland, is the fruit of these Sabbath night prayer- 
meetings, held by Mr. T. and Mr. Gillman. ** The 
leaders," he continues, '* are in good tone, and hope 
for a revival by and by, and I hope so too. Our 
society here is not half so large as in Belfast, but 
there are several fine old Christians in it. In visit- 
ing the society for tickets recently, I have met some 
noble women, especially in the classes of Mr. James 
Field, who is a very uncommon man. Withal, we 
have no such material here as in my last circuit. 
Wretched Popery abounds everywhere, and, conse- 
quently, the wickedness of the people is awful. You 
would think the Devil himself was in them. Cursing, 
brawling, fighting on every hand ! And anything to 
equal the lower orders for lying and cheating I never 
met before, and, indeed, had no notion of until now. 
Amongst the Protestants, high Church is very preva- 
lent, and om^ own society is pretty well leavened with 
such predilections. However, these things, it is likely, 
appear to me in a stronger light, being just fresh 
from Belfast." 

In September, he thus describes his impressions 
as to persons and things : " Mr. Gillman, so far as I 
can judge, is a very superior man — aimable, unosten- 
tatious. His principle appears to be of the very 
highest order. His piety is much deeper than I had 
previously supposed, and, even were it otherwise, he 
could do nothing low or mean. As a preacher, I be- 
lieve we have not his equal in the Irish Conference. 
We have a very un-every-day character among us in 
Mr. James Field, aged seventy-two, born in the North 
of Ireland, who spent his early days in the army, and 



347 

has resided in this city the last thirty-seven years. 
He has charge of four classes, containing 100 mem- 
bers, under his care ; and, although now very infirm 
on his feet, he looks well after them. He is a man 
of strong sense, has read a good deal, has enjoyed 
the blessing of perfect love -with Kttle intermission 
for thirty-five years, speaks of it on all occasions, 
drives faith to the very edge of solifidianism, piety to 
the verge of antinomianism, yet never crosses the 
line. He has been made very useful in Cork. He 
delights in revival meetings, but is not now able to 
render any assistance at them. He wields a power- 
ful influence deservedly here. All respect him, and 
all who are good love him. His wife and sons, — fine 
young men, — were brought to enjoy religion before they 
went hence. I do not knovf that he has anything 
besides his pension, £18 or £20 a year, to live upon. 
His sister keeps house for him. Everything about 
him is a pattern of neatness. He is always cheerful 
and happy. He is indeed a very extraordinary man. 
There are some women in his classes superior 1o 
most I have met in Ireland : they are fit to speak be- 
fore kings. My Eliza is mightily attached to him. 
His conversation did her good in Bandon when he 
came over, at my request, to assist us in the revival 
there." 

To a brother minister he writes : "I hope to be 
your acquaintance, your friend, for ever I I am glad 
you are reading Baxter's Memoirs — he will do you 
good. I read the old folio (1696) edition in 1838. I 
think that volmne the best history of those times 
which we have. I greatly prefer it to Hume or even 
Rapin, as far as it goes. I am now reading the first 



MS 

volume of his Ghristian Directory. It is good after 
its kitod. Baxter was the man of perseverance. I 
wonder at him. He was a genius and a fag !" 

Pulpit duties he regarded as the great business of 
a minister. Therefore, he adds : "I am glad you 
work hard at sermonizing. I have not made one new 
sermon since I came to Cork. However, Col. i. 21, 
22, has gotten the first heat, is on the anvil, and I 
hope will shape by and by. This is a beginning. 
Preaching is our proper work, and we, — I at least, — 
ought to work harder at it than we do." 

Then he informs his friend : *' Every Sabbath 
evening I am in the city, I hold a prayer-meeting 
after preaching, and a special one every Friday even- 
ing. We have no stir, but are living in hope. My 
own soul is in good tone. Many times in a month I 
say to wife ' we ought to be — nay, but we are — the 
happiest couple in Cork. Withal I have much of 
the feeling, life is going, and little is doing. Lord help 
me to walk in the path I see before me ! I rise no- 
minally at five, always before six. Eead part of a 
chapter in Hebrew and also in Greek, and after that 
Paley and Baxter. I have made out a visiting plan, 
and I am determined to see every member of the 
Cork society four times a year at their houses, talk 
closely and pray with all whose engagements will per- 
mit me to do so. I go to Bandon to-day. I have 
had many invitations there since I came, but have 
not gone yet." 

On his birth-day, October 22, 1840, — his heart 
overflowing with grateful and tender emotions, — he 
writes to his mother, enumerating mercies, and mak- 
ing suitable reflections and resolves: "I generally 



249 

take an hour, on the annual return of this day, to re- 
view the mercies of God to me, and to enquire what 
have I rendered to Him for his benefits ? 

" 1. The personal mercies of forty-four years are 
not easily recounted. When I look at myself this 
day, I have better health than I reckoned on formerly ; 
and, having food and raiment, am able to keep out of 
debt. I might add &c. to the end of a long line. 

** 2. Family mercies are neither few nor small. A 
wife who is truly a help and no hindrance to me — -as 
wives go, really a good one— spared to me, and in 
better health than I have often seen her^ Our five 
children spared, and in good health. Praise the 
Lord ! We have much, very much happiness at home . 
Under this head I rejoice to include the union sub- 
sisting between all the branches of our family. 
Thanks to God, we never, in all our lives, had any- 
thing like a disruption or breach ; and I believe we 
love each other more as we advance in life. I feel 
pleasure in telling my children of their grand-parents, 
uncles, aunts, cousins, &c., and I know my family 
connexions cherish the same feeling towards me and 
mine. Now, my dearest mother, if the happiness of 
life consists in loving and being loved, is not much 
of it enjoyed among us ? 

"3. The church mercies of my life are and have 
been many. Early enlightened, awakened, converted, 
and brought acquainted with the Methodist people, my 
way to religious enjoyment and usefulness was 
opened. For the latter half of my life I have been 
blessed with the acquaintance of not a few whom I 
might call Christian friends. At some periods of 
these years I enjoyed much spiritual happiness, and 



S50 

Heaven intended I should always do so. This day I 
am compassed with mercies. Hundreds of religious 
and useful books around me in the room where I now 
sit. Reading my business ; preaching my business ; 
Christian duties my business, week-day and Sabbath — 
so that I may, with propriety, say religion is my trade. 
What mercies these ! Many sincere souls can scarce 
find an hour for reading, or even for prayer, in the 
four and twenty ; but I am paid and supported to 
read, pray, preach, and be useful. Many pious per- 
sons are overwhelmed with the world from week to 
week and from year to year;'^but I have food and rai- 
ment provided for me that I may sit loose to worldly 
cares, and be at liberty to attend solely to the services 
of the sanctuary ; to attend to them without distrac- 
tion of mind. 

'' These are a few of the subjects w4iich furnish 
material for reflection, and they are but a few out of 
the many which a review of forty-four years supplies. 
Another business of this day is to enquire into the 
return I have made to God for all his mercies. 

" As a general rule, I believe it is a good one that 
the less we say of either good or bad self the better. If 
I stated to my dear mother how I think and feel on this 
subject, she would hardly believe me. But the heart 
knoweth its own bitterness, and a stranger intermed- 
dleth not with its joy. This matter then is between 
God and my own soul. But this much I can say, 
with great sincerity and with great earnestness too, 
! that the residue of my days may be more devoted 
to God than the former have been ! They may — they 
ought — I hope they will." 

In a letter to his brother, October 13, he says : 



I 



251 

" Things go on in this city with great uniformity. I 
spent Sunday, S7th, in Bandon, and saw much heart 
amongst them. Many were really glad to see me. 
Spent Sunday, October 4, at Passage. Congregations 
sixty and fifty-seven — a small, nice, cold congregation. 
We must get poor amongst us there before we do 
much good." 

Then he contrasts Cork and Belfast, assigning 
what, in his judgment, were the reasons of the differ- 
ence between them : "I could not imagine two towns 
in the same small island more dissimilar than this 
city and Belfast. To this various causes may have 
contributed — two in particular : the one is Protestant, 
the other Popish ; the one is comparatively a young 
town, and is distinguished by the vigour of mind, 
energy of character, and plodding industry of its in- 
habitants ; the other is an ancient city, surrounded by 
an impoverished aristocracy, many of whom inherit 
little besides the long, ancestral family roll, stoutly sup- 
ported by a goodly proportion of hereditary pride and 
stateliness. Such cannot dig, and to beg, sometimes, 
they are ashamed ; and thus we go on. No cotton- 
mills, no flax-mills, no manufactories of any sort; 
the poor unemployed, the gentry proud, idle, impo- 
verished, and the women and boys as wicked as 
demons ; whilst among the lower orders every one 
is on the catch to cheat and deceive his neighbour ; 
ready to tell fifty lies, — swearing at the same time to 
confirm them, — if but one farthing may be gained." 

Mr. T.'s step-father died very suddenly, almost instan- 
taneously, in 1840. The testimony he bears to his 
character is honourable to them both, and at the same 
time suggestive of the mutual duties of persons stand- 



252 



li 



in those relations : '' The stroke is very unexpected. 
It seems more Hke a dream than a reality. All my 
dear, dear father's kindly affection to me for five-and- 
thirty years rise up before my mind, — affection more 
marked every year for the last twenty. He has some^ 
times thrown his arms around me when I have been I 
at home, or when about to leave, after my annual 
visit, and said, ' I love you as w^ell as any child I have.' 
I loved father much, but did not know how much 
until now. A strong tie to life is broken. And then 
he was a man for whom I never thought of sudden 
death — no, never. 

" There has been a great change in father's temper 
and manner for several years past, but I perceived it 
more clearly than ever the last few times I saw him. 
There was something so mild, subdued, affectionate 
about him latterly, that I was struck with the change. 
He was becoming more like the inhabitants of that 
world to which he has removed. The suddenness of 
his end gives me no uneasiness, except the loss to his 
family, and our sorrow at that loss ; but so far as he 
himself is concerned, all is well, well, well, and will 
be for ever. Glory be to God for this consolation 
under such great bereavement! No, no, my dear 
father would be no society for damned souls. Where 
that Saviour is w^hom he loved and serv^ed for more 
than five-and-twenty years, there will William John- 
ston be for ever!" 

When the Apostle prayed for the Philippian Church, 
that their love might abound yet more and more in 
knowledge and m all judgment, — in all spiritual sense 
or feeling, — he evidently regarded a plenitude of holy 
enjoyment as necessary, equally with growth in know- 



253 

ledge, as a qualification for usefulness; and there- 
fore he adds, '* being filled with the fruits of righteous- 
ness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and 
praise of God." Nehemiah also considered personal 
happiness, which is Divine in its source, identical 
with power to do good, when he said, " The joy of the 
Lord is your strength." This consideration had its 
influence on Mr. T. through life. He deemed it his 
duty to rejoice evermore, not on his own account 
merely, but that he might be fully fitted to serve his 
generation by the will of God : thus testifying, by his 
own practice, that in the attainment of privilege no 
right-minded Christian '* liveth to himself." The intel- 
ligence he communicates, December 16,1840, confirms 
this view : " I do not know that you would see any 
change in me the last few weeks were you living with 
me, but I received such a baptism of the Holy Spirit 
a short time since as ought to make a change visible 
to all. O ! I wonder what we are about, and most of 
all, I wonder at myself! If we all lived in the full 
enjoyment of perfect love, what an impression would 
be made on our congregations and on the world! 
After all I have little confidence in myself. Many a 
gracious visitation have I been the subject of these 
five-and-twenty years, and what am I to-day ? Well, 
glory to God, I am His ! We had a good day on 
Simday. Seven professed to get good at the evening 
prayer-meeting. Mr. Gillman is all alive. He really 
surprised me on that occasion." 

It has been already seen that Mr. T.'s sense of 
Divine benefits was deep and overpowering. He was 
also remarkable for an ardent and tenacious remem- 
brance of acts of kindness shown him by Christian 

z 



254 

friends. Hence he never failed, as opportunity served^ 
to acknowledge, with gratitude, which some might re- 
gard as enthusiastic, his obligations to the Eev. Kobert 
Banks, through whose recommendation of him to thef 
Conference he enjoyed the distinguished honour and 
happiness of a place in the Wesleyan ministry. Ac- 
cordingly, on his return to Cork, after having paid usj 
a visit in Kilkenny, in Jan. 1841, he writes : " Permit 
me to thank you for your attention to me while at 
Kilkenny; especially for taking me to Athy, and re- 
joicing in my joy while there. I am indeed sensible 
of your kindness on that occasion. I have seldom 
in my life felt higher gratification than I did those 
days. Good Mr. Banks made me young again, and 
assuredly he became young again himself! He is 
truly an estimable man. Happy himself, and making 
all around him happy !" 

Perhaps, however, no feature in Mr. T.'s character 
was more amiable or worthy of imitation than his 
filial affection — affection which the cares of his family 
or of the church never cooled or interrupted. He 
was the tenderly-devoted, sympathizing son, even unto 
death ! Tht views, therefore, which he expressed as 
to the claims of parents, especially mothers, to such 
affection from their children, were impressively ex- 
emplified in his own practice : " How glad I am to 
hear your cold is better, aye, that my dear mother is 
well. Long may you be well ! I am much indebted 
for the unknown and unceasing trouble you have had 
with my John. I know my little mother so well, that 
I am sure, if he recover, it will make her heart un- 
utterably glad. Thus it is the order of Providence 
that love descends — parents love their children and 



S55 

children's children ; hut there is very seldom much of 
the back flow of love. There are few instances of a 
return in any very marked way from children to 
parents. I have long believed there is no love on 
this side Heaven purer than that of a good mother to 
her children. The love of a wife or husband may be 
stronger, but there is more of self, more of earth and 
nature in it ; while a mother's love goes out of itself, 
forgets itself, rises above itself, and settles — is con- 
centrated on her chidren. And I have often thought 
that woman is more enduring in her nature than man. 
What husband would bear with a bad wife, or father 
with a bad son, as wives and mothers do with bad 
lausbaiids and children, and yet love them still ?" 

The ** wind-up " of circuit affairs in June, 1841, 
was encouraging. He notices gratefully a numerical 
increase of from thirty to fifty, after supplying the 
places of those lost to the society by emigration and 
other causes, and also the healthy state of all the 
€onnexional funds. This was the more cheering, as 
there had been no additional members reported at the 
elose of any year since 1837, 

At the ensuing Conference, Mr. T. was appointed 
the superintendent of the Cork circuit, having the 
Rev. John Greer for his colleague. This increase of 
responsibility occasioned fervent longings for a higher 
degree of spirituality, and still greater earnestness in 
the duties of his calling : *' I have been giving myself 
to prayer^'' he observes, July 12, *'for some days. I 
feel the need and value of deeper piety, and, if I can, 
I will obtain it. My soul has been greatly blessed, 
but I long for that abiding plenitude of God which 
keeps the heart full of love, of gratitude, and of the 



256 

peace which passeth all understanding. Between 
circuit and family affairs, I have been more than 
busy; indeed, I am almost run down: but better 
days approach. I have been in Cove and Passage 
more than once lately to try and set om' missionar}^ 
committees in those places at work for the coming 
year, and so I have been doing here. Some very 
principal men, I see, are disposed to take matters 
easy, now that Mr. Gillman is gone; however, this 
only drives me to my closet and my God. I can lean 
upon Him. Everything short of loving Him supremely, 
living to Him, doing everything for Him is less than 
little. How sweet to live in His pure love, ever to 
aim at His glory, and, under all circumstances, to 
rest in Him. Latterly, I have felt a greater longing 
to grow into such a state, and abide in it, than I have 
often done. I do indeed pant to love God perfectly, 
and to be always happy in Him. We go on but too 
evenly here just now. 0, for a glorious outbreak !" 

The only wise God was thus preparing his servant 
for scenes of affliction and suffering, sufficiently testing 
to his piety, — mature as it was. The death not only 
of his youngest son, but of his excellent wife, there 
is reason to fear, was hastened by a savage electioneer- 
ing mob having broken into his house, in pmrsuit 
of some persons who took refuge there. His narra- 
tive of those scenes is truly touching : " In our period 
of existence there are seasons of joy and of sorrow to 
which the mind is wont to revert when they are long 
Tjast, but there are some times when life itself seems 
a blank, and tlie heart is sunk and subdued, and one 
is silent before God. Thus I feel this day. 

'' The soul of our dear little Jemmy took its de- 



257 

parture to a better world, at half-past nine this morn- 
ing. This is the first breach in our family circle ; 
you will, therefore, not wonder if it be painfully felt. 
We had no child at James's age who gave similar in- 
dications of promise, or attracted the same notice as 
he did. The last conversation I had with him relative to 
religion was on Sunday last. He asked me to take 
him in my arms, and walk the room with him. I 
did so, and asked him should I sing a hymn for him ? 
^ Yes, papa, sing 

' There is a land of pure delight' 

After I had sung a verse or two, he asked me, ' Papa, 
is the river Jordan a real river ? Is there water in 
it T I told him it was a real river ; that God's people 
who left Egypt, and had been in the wilderness, must 
cross it before they could go into Canaan, the good 
country into which God brought them, and which 
was like Heaven ; but the Jordan ive had to cross was 
death ; that Jesus who loved us would meet us there ; 
that then we would be in Heaven with Him, and all 
who were good, and never be sick again, I then 
asked him, ' Do you understand me, James ? Do 
you know the meaning of what I have said to you T 
He looked up with animation, and answered with 
considerable energy, ' I do. Papa — -I do understand 
you ; and I wish I was crossing Jordan now!' I an- 
swered, my dear, it is not far off; you will soon cross 
it ; you will soon be with Jesus.' This was the last 
conversation on the subject of Heaven I had with my 
sweet child. This morning he asked me to give him 
a drink, and to lay him by mamma in her bed ; I did 
so, attended the half-past six o'clock meeting, and 



258 



afterwards, while in my study, Eliza ran down and 
told me he was dying. He sunk rapidly. We knelt 
round his bed, and said, as we could, the Lord gave, 
and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name 
of the Lord. 

" It is but a few weeks since he was most anxiously 
engaged in collecting for the missions. He had been 
carried to the last quarterly collectors' meeting, saw 
the moneys paying in to the Treasurer, heard the 
statements which were made concerning the heathen, 
asked if he might not be a collector, got a missionar}'- 
box from Mr. Gillman, into which he put all his own 
pennies, with what he could procure from others, and, 
in a few days after, carried in his own hands the pro- 
ceeds of the box to the meeting. 

" Our city is much disturbed yesterday and to-day. 
I fear the rioting has shortened his days. Three 
friends fled for refuge to our house ; the mob pursued, 
burst the door in after them, and, when they could 
not find them, smashed nearly all the glass in the 
front of the house in a few minutes. Wife and 
children retired to a back room very much alarmed, 
of course. When about to lie down, Jemmy said to 
me ' Papa, I wont sleep any to-night.' I said, ' Why 
not sleep, my child?' He replied, 'The noise and the 
stones frightened me.' He sleeps soundly and 
sweetly now ! " 

It is an instructive incident that the morning of 
his child's death he was found fulfilling his minis- 
terial duties in the sanctuary and in his study. In- 
stances of supreme regard for God and His work, in 
conjunction with a proper manifestation of natural 
affection under affliction and bereavement, are rare. 



i 



259 

yet such gi^ace is not impossible. *'• Son of man/' 
said God to Ezekiel, ''behold I take away the desire 
of thine eyes with a stroke." There was tender con- 
jugal affection. Yet did he love her less than God, 
for he attended to the required duties of his office. 
" So," he records, "I spake unto the people in the 
morning, and at even my wife died. I did in the 
morning as I was commanded." ^' 

A similar " stroke," for some time impending over 
the subject of our narrative, fell upon him early in 
September. How he felt and acted under it, a letter 
written to me the day after will best describe : " This 
day and yesterday are the darkest of my whole life. 
To-day I walked the floor of my room and satisfied 
my heart's sorrow, while the body of my placid wife 
lay dead before me. Aye, it is true : my Eliza is 
gone. O ! Brother Huston, my heart is black. May 
the great God pity me. I feel like a man knocked 
down and stunned, who cannot rise again. I am in 
a dreamy, strange, stupid state. I see no comfort 
anywhere but in the thought of living nearer to God 
than I have ever done. Lord help me." 

He transmitted an edifying account of her last 
years, and of the death-bed scene, to his Aunt Morris 
the following month : "I had heard of your affliction, 
but am so wrapped up in my own sorrows now, that I 
often forget everything else. You know more fully 
than any other human being how long and how well 
I loved my Eliza ; and I do think our long and well- 
tried affection was increasing in depth, richness and 
tenderness, especially the last two or three years. 
We often talked of Heaven, of God, of living more 

Ezek. xxiv. 16, 18. 



260 



n 



fully to Him, and there was an eflfort to help each 
other into closer fellowship with Him, not made to 
the same extent in former years. We often conversed 
latterly on the subject of entire sanctification, and, on 
her part, the conversation generally finished with 
* Yes, attain to a high degree of holiness, live in it, 
preach it in every sermon, and God will make you 
more useful than you have ever yet been. Indeed 
this was her highest ambition concerning me, that 
I might be holy and useful. Her own piety had been 
deepening for some time past. The morning our dear 
child died she stood by his bed-side, with her hands 
clasped, watching the last struggle until he ceased to 
breathe, and then, her tears gushing, said, with an ac- 
cent and feeling I shall not soon forget, ' Glory be to 
God I' She told me several times after, that she felt, at 
the moment, what she could not possibly describe ; but 
that certainly God had given her a taste of the glor}- 
into which her sweet child had then entered, for that 
she never before felt anything equal to the baptism 
from Heaven she then received. The last conversa- 
tion of any length which I had with her on spiritual 
subjects was in full accordance with this statement. 
This she introduced herself the Satm^day before her 
death, by saying : ' If matters continue tints, I cannot 
live long, it is utterly impossible I could ; it is all the 
same to me what time I go to Heaven ; any time will 
answer jne, and perhaps this is the very best time for 
me ; but I feel for my children ; I feel for my husband !' 
After conversing at length on other matters, she 
praised God aloud until I feared for her ; again and 
again exclaiming, ' ! the goodness of God ! The 
goodness of God to me ! ! His great goodness to 



261 

me ! The goodness, the great goodness of my Saviour 
-—of my Saviour to me ! O ! His great geeat good- 
ness !' Indeed her whole being seemed to throw 
itself into the word great. She seemed at the moment 
penetrated with an inexpressible sense of the Divine 
benevolence. For a considerable time past she talked 
very familiarly of Heaven; but on her sick bed I 
wondered at her. Such a state of calm readiness for 
the Master's coming, even among exalted Christians, is 
not often to be seen. During the seven weeks of 
pain and suffering through which she passed, no 
murmur escaped her Ups. Aunt, I have sustained a 
loss, and I feel it." 

" Is any among you afflicted? Let him peat," is 
the injunction of the Apostle James to all who are in 
any trouble. Should the heart, — stricken, depressed, 
bewildered, — be indisposed for the duty; should 
gloomy musings be more congenial than the exercises 
of devotion; should these musings foster unbelief, 
fretfulness, repining ; this will be Satan's opportu- 
nity to hurl his fiery dai^ts, and accomplish his fell 
purposes. The necessity therefore for prayer is 
urgent, and the only safety is to take refuge in God. 

*' Ah ! whither should we flee for aid 
When tempted, desolate, dismayed ? 
Or how the hosts of Hell defeat ?" 

Should the above precept be disregarded? The Psalmist 
also coimsels suffering saints : *' Trust in Him at all 
times ; ye people pour out " — not pore over your woes, 
but " pom' out," literally empty out, " your hearts 
before Him, God is a refuge for us." This course 
Mr. T. endeavoured to pursue, and not without bene- 




262 

ficial results. October 22, he observes : '* This is the 
most gloomy birth-day I have spent for many years. 
My little family used to hail its arrival, and I en- 
couraged them to make it a day of joy; but I told 
no person of its return, now that I might spend it un- 
disturbed. On this day week, I received more good 
in my closet than I am wont to receive, and every 
day since have enjoyed nearer communion with God, 
than for some time. I have more than usual freedom 
in prayer and thanksgiving. May it continue! I 
need good. We have had some effective prayer- 
meetings lately. At one of them four persons ob- 
tained peace with God." 

Notice has been taken already of the praying faith 
of his Aunt Eades."^ His brother having informed 
him that others of her *' family" had commenced to 
** serve God," " I am glad," he responds, " to hear 
the news from Dublin. I had heard it in part be- 
fore. Yes, Mrs. Eades's prayers are on the file 
above. Mighty prayer, like hers, is always answered !" 

At the Conference of 1842, Mr. T. was appointed 
to Londonderry. He notices, with lively satisfaction, 
the prosperous state of the Irish connexion as then 
reported. After filling up the places of hundreds of 
members who had emigrated, about 400 had been 
added, and there w^ould be, he said, an increase of 
£300 or £400 to the missionary income. On this 
occasion, as a mark of their esteem and confidence, 
his brethren delegated him as one of their represen- 
tatives to the British Conference, an appointment 
which, for that and other reasons, was grateful to 
his feelings. 

* See page 39. 



263 

The opinion he had begun to form of Methodistic 
matters in Derry he thus expresses, August 19: 
" The chapel is beautiful, and beautifully situated. 
It opens on the wall, which is the public w^alk of the 
town, and is, therefore, seen to great advantage. It 
has underneath a splendid school-room, with vestry 
and class-rooms adjoining." 2'2nd : " 1 have been now 
a Sabbath in town, and can form some notion of the 
congregation department. The evening one was con- 
siderably larger than the morning's, but even that 
appeared small to me. There was a \erj good work 
on this circuit four years ago when Messrs. Price and 
Scott were here, and had we but such a stir now we 
should get on delightfully. For one thing I am very 
thankful: Mr. M'Kay and myself, so far as I know, 
have the good feeling of all the people with us. This 
is no small matter. What good can we do, if we have 
not the hearts of the people ?" 

Writing to me in November he adds some other 
particulars : " Of this circuit I have not much to say. 
I like the city in many respects, but fancy it is stiff 
enough soil for revival operations. The country is 
rough enough — splendid ground to which to send a 
dandy preacher. ' Tell me how to rise ?' Eat, drink, 
sleep, speak, think, breathe — in everything live and 
act hy faith, faith that you are on the very verge of 
eternity : make more use of Christ than ever. Do 
not be afraid to trust him in and with everything, 
then rise you will, and speedily too." 

About this time Mr. T. was united in marriage to 
Miss Pedlow, daughter of the Eev. Daniel Pedlow. 
The following Christmas-eve he observes : '* This is 
a season of the year when the mind, unbidden, will 



264 

be occupied with past, present and future, in joyful 
and sorrowful thinkings. Who can avoid looking 
back to-day, or prevent his thoughts from passing, in 
the shape of hopes and purposes, to the future, and 
while present mercies are surveyed with the past, 
how becoming to ask, ' My soul, how much owest 
thou unto thy Lord ?' These have been some of my 
exercises to-day. Amid all life's changes, how much 
— ! how much of mercy have I seen 1 Adverting to 
the future, I hope to be a better man, and to live for 
ever. Viewing the present, I am compassed round 
with motives for thankfulness — among the rest all my 
family in excellent health." 

In January, he preached the anniversary sermon 
for the chapel in Tandragee, — collection £28. Pass- 
ing through Belfast he says : '* I slept Monday and 
Tuesday night at Mr. Le Maitre's. Monday they had 
Mr. and Mrs. Tobias, Mr. and Mrs. Kidgeway, with 
other friends, to meet me at tea. I felt this to be 
kind. It was a very happy evening. We had noble 
congregations these two evenings. The people mani- 
fested such heart as I have not witnessed since I left 
them." 

He and Mr. Holmes spent a fortnight of this month 
holding missionary meetings thi^ough the district : 
*' Wednesday, 18th, Newtonstewart. About 180 or 
200 present in om* chapel, which was sufficiently filled 
by this number. Mr. M'Cutchan, supernumerary, in 
the chair. Good meeting ; not much money ; a 
prayer-meeting after, which is a right good finish to a 
missionary meeting. Friday, 20th, Sixmilecross. The 
first missionary meeting held there. Congregation 



265 

for the most part Presbyterian. Mr. said some 

queer things, but a good impression was made. 

Tuesday, 24th, C : In town at twelve. Did not 

know the name of one in the village ; w^andered about 
for a while, and was picked up by a Methodist family 
who had me to dinner. School-house more than full ; 
most severe night ; good meeting. Slept in the house 
of a family who are whiskey sellers. Husband meets 
in class, wife and he have good impressions, which the 
whiskey, if not given up, will soon blight. Wednes- 
day, 25th, Stranorlar. Held our meeting in the Me- 
thodist chapel, which stands in the centre of a field, a 
quarter of a mile from the town. The preacher who 
built it there should be tried for his life ! Friday, 2 Tth : 
Home to meet Mr. Stewart, of Kingstown, v/ho is to 
preach our anniversary sermons. Sunday, 29th : Mr. 
S. gave us two good discourses on 1 John iv. 16, and 
Matt. xvi. 26 ; collections, £25. Monday, 30th : A 
society tea-meeting. Addresses from tw^o preachers ; 
Mr. Stewart's like what I suppose Saint John would 
have given. He is sixty-seven years old, has travelled 
forty-three, and is now the father of the Irish Con- 
ference. He foretold we are going to have good 
days. May he be a true prophet ! I felt it a real 
advantage to have him in the house." 

Mr. T.'s allotted work for one day shows the same 
conscientious diligence in the improvement of his time : 
" If you wish to know what I am doing, here it is : 
From seven to nine, read a portion of the Psalms in 
Hebrew, and of our Lord's sermon in Greek, besides 
the epistle to the Hebrews. Nine to twelve sermonize 
and write letters ; twelve to three, visit in the order 

marked for this day ; see also who is dying, and 

2 a 



266 

who is ill ; three to four, dinner, &c. ; four to 

five, teach children arithmetic ; five to six, my own 
room — sermon for evening ; seven to eight, meet my 
class ; eight to nine, preaching; nine to eleven, read, 
converse, &c., then bed. N.B. — Speak to M. about 
books. If you say ' this looks well on paper, but 
will it be done ?' I hope so. It was yesterday till 
seven, when we took tea out, and the day before all 
through, class meeting excepted. We want but more 
piety to make us very happy in this family." 

Mr. T. did not witness the amount of spiritual 
prosperity, during the year he spent in DeiTy, which 
he was wont to do ; yet his ministry was not fruitless : 
'* I hear good is doing in Omagh, Enniskillen, and a 
few other places through the kingdom ; I wish I 
could add Deny. We have an individual conversion 
occasionally, but no more. At Ballyfamon, county 
Eoscommon, recently, I was preaching anniversary 
sermons ; also, at Drumshambo and Annadale. It 
really did me good to meet those I saw there. How 
sweet the smile of Christian friendship 1 I am glad 
to hear of good doing in your circuit. But when 
shall I have such news to send you from this ? I saw 
more good the two days I was at Ballyfarnon and 
Drumshambo than here in six months. But I am 
not depressed. We hope for better days." 

That he might see a revival on his ch'cuit, he 
sought it m his own soul : " Trying to apply myself 
to reading, prayer, and my public duties with more 
diligence than usual. I long to live in a state of con- 
tinual readiness for Heaven, — seeing God every mo- 
ment. Lately, I have been giving myself to Him 
afresh, and resolving to be His more fully. ! that 



267 

I may ! I believe if what He has done for me does 
not unite me to Him in closest and purest affection, 
nothing which He could do would. I feel His good- 
ness very deeply." 

In the note with which he closes the narrative of 
his labours on the Derry Circuit, it will be seen, from 
his buoyant reference to InnisHowen, that he cJieerfully 
endured hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ : 
*' At the Omagh and Strabane missionary meetings, 
the 13th and I4th ult; and at Ballyfarnon, the 22nd, 
to preach anniversary sermons in a little chapel built 
last year. Eighteen years, this month, since I was 
last in Ballyfarnon, and there was neither stick or 
stone of the present village there then, save one house. 
Now there is a neat little post and market tow^n. On 
Sunday I dined with Mr. M'Dermot, the landlord, 
who is friendly, and assisted the building considerably. 
We had a nice company of gentry, who all came to 
chapel at five. I went on seven miles to Drumshambo, 
with Mr. Mark Crawford, after preaching; dined at' 
Annadale on Monday with the Slacke family, who 
came to Drumshambo in the evening, three miles, in 
such a pour of rain ! Tuesday morning I breakfasted 
with John Crawford, eighty-nine years old, a very 
happy man, who loved and showed me kindness 
nineteen years ago. It would be impossible for any 
people to evince more hearty affection than they did 
the short time I was among them. Went the day 
after to Newtownlimavady missionary meeting, and 
on Saturday, when I came home from that, rode ten 
miles to my place in the country, ten yesterday, and 
ten more to-day. I feel greatly worn down, but hope 
for a few days quiet now^ Tuesday next I go to 



268 



1 



Omagli to hold our district meeting, and then I do 
not intend to be off my own ground till Conference. 
I never knew what rheumatism was until this winter. 
My two arms are all but useless ; I can scarcely put 
either of them at the back of my head without excru- 
ciating pain. The damp rooms and damp chaff beds 
of Innishowen, after being five years for the most part 
in my own house and bed, are quite enough for me. 
After this I may say, with the old Preachers, I have 
" a side for every bed, and a tooth for every bread !" 

The reasons of his removal from Derry, at the end 
of one year, are reserved for the next chapter. 



CHAP. IX. 

1843. BELFAST. SLIGO. 

In 1841 the Belfast circuit was divided into two — 
South and North. This, unhappily, was the occasion 
of some misunderstandings and disputes. The Con- 
ference of 1843, therefore, judged it expedient to place 
the South Circuit under the care of the Eev. William 
Stewart, while Mr. T. was made superintendent of 
the North. Much as he loved the Belfast people, his 
removal from Derry, just then, was anything but 
agreeable to him, as appears from an unreserved dis- 
closm^e of his feelings to his brother : "I had no 
more thought of being moved this year than you had 
that I should. My appointment to Belfast is on pub- 
lic grounds. The two circuits have not been going 
on in the most harmonious way, and Mr. Stewart and 
I are sent as men who will work together, heal the 
breaches, and set and keep all right ! As to this I 
have my fears. However, I had nothing to do in the 
matter, except to enter my protest against it, which I 
did more than once, — telling the Conference I would 
not leave unless they compelled me, which they did." 
He informs another friend : " It grew up thus : the 
two Belfast circuits asked for Mr. Gillman, and 
would have nobody else. Gillman was wanted for 
Dublin, and the Conference took the matter into their 



270 



n 



own hands, and sent Mr. Stewart to the South circuit, 
the leaders of the North still urging their request for 
Mr. Gillman. The Stationing Committee then put 
me down for them as one who would draw^ kindly 
with Mr. Stewart, and help to calm the troubled 
waters. Never had I an appointment of equal re- 
sponsibility. The Derry people are not at all pleased. 
The circuit steward sent in a very strong letter, but 
the decision would not be altered." 

He was privileged to see souls saved almost imme- 
diately on his arrival. July 24, he says : *' Several 
found mercy at the prayer-meeting in Frederick 
Street on Tuesday, and four others last night (Sab- 
bath) in Ballymacarrett. If God give us such 
meetings as these we will have much cause of joy.'* 
Such meetings were given, and his joy was enhanced 
by the conversion of his eldest daughter in one of 
them : " Good meetings since we came ; some dis- 
tressed souls made happy every week ; but yesterday 
was the best Sabbath we had yet. Congregations 
good, and a crowded and blessed sacramental service. 
We have a Tuesday night's prayer-meeting, which 
has been the means of immense good on this circuit. 
My own Jane was among the number of those who 
obtained peace with God at the last one. All my 
other children were greatly affected. This has made 
my heart very glad. I shall hardly have time to eat 
bread here. Sixty-three classes, comprising eight 
hundred members under my care, and spread over a 
wide surface." 

So fully occupied was he at this time that he had 
little leisure for friendly correspondence. But he 
could not forget his beloved mother. To her he 



271 

writes, Sept. 1%: *' A longer time than usual has 
elapsed since I wrote to you. Just now I am in 
danger of grieving relations as well as friends, for I 
am not writing almost to any person. I am thoroughly 
busy, and likely to be so while in Belfast. My present 
duties call for the application of all my powers of 
body and mind, and for the improvement of every 
hour. Every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Fri- 
day, I visit from eleven to three ; Wednesday meet a 
class and hold the preachers' meeting ; so the middle 
of that day is gone ; and Saturday I do not visit re- 
gularly. Every evening in the week, except Saturday, 
I am engaged in town or country ; and every Monday 
and Tuesday night till ten o'clock or later. I have a 
number of sick calls, baptisms and burials to attend 
to, which would surprise you; and Mr. M 'Kay, not 
being in full connexion, can give no assistance in 
administering baptism or the Lord's Supper. Beside, 
I find it absolutely necessary to procure new pulpit 
material ; for though not one in fifty recollects those 
sermons I preached here four and ^ys years ago,when 
they hear them again they remember them right well. 
And more, the people of this town are advancing in 
mental improvement, in theological and general infor- 
mation, since I knew them, with a rapidity scarcely 
credible ; and the preacher who does not keep pace 
with them cannot edify and profit them as he ought. 
" We see some good doing every week. A few very 
encouraging cases have turned up lately. On Sunday 
evening, Sept. 3, a Mrs. N. was very deeply awakened. 
Of this her husband informed me next morning. 
Tuesday evening she attended the special prayer- 
meeting, was made happy, and since then goes on well. 



^72 

Another, — an interesting Englishwoman, — called a 
few weeks since, earnestly asking ' What must I do to 
be saved ?' I prayed with her, and while trying to make 
the way of faith plain, in conversation, she suddenly 
exclaimed, ' I understand it now,' — and went home re- 
joicing. A third, a poor backslider, seized with 
fever, sent for me. The burden of his complaint was, 
' God's face is turned from me ; his heart is hardened 
against me ; I cannot come to Him :' but O ! the depth 
of Divine mercy ! He found the Lord, triumphed in 
His salvation, and died ! These twenty years I have 
not been more satisfied with a death-bed repentance. 
The fourth, a respectable young lady, a member of 
one of the most careless families in town, sent for me 
some weeks ago to visit her ; professed conversion, 
joined my class, and I trust is going on well in the 
ways of the Lord. I might add other cases. Glory 
to God!" 

The next extract shows yet more fully how com- 
pletely engaged were his mind and hands: "lam 
over head and ears in ecclesiasticals. We have got 
the lease of ground for a small chapel in Shankhill 
completed. Now for the chapel itself. And we have 
got the lease of ground for a mission school in Ligo- 
niel perfected, which ground I asked ^ye years ago. 
Mr. Croggon is in town with plan and specification ; 
and in all the rain we go there to-day at three o'clock. 
I hope the building will be finished in four months. 
The civil war to which you allude is abating. There 
are no colonels, and battles cannot so well be fought 
without commanders. In plainer language, the 
preachers are resolved there shall be no South 
and North Circuit heard of We meet once a week, 



273 

do everything by united counsels, occupy each other's 
pulpits every four weeks, and the consequence is, our 
circuit differences are settling down, and will, I think, 
entirely subside. There is still a little ground-swell, 
but while the pilots understand each other, I hope 
there will be no great danger, even if a storm should 
again arise. Our effective public meetings are also 
blessed quieters of trouble. At Shankhill, on Friday 
evening, eleven persons, by their own profession, 
found peace v/ith God, and five on Sunday evening 
in our chapel. Seldom have I seen such a meeting 
as that of Friday; all were moved; and on Sabbath 
evening it was a rich hour. The circuit preachers 
do not visit Shankhill. 1 have been there only 
twice, — Friday the second time ; but you may be sure 
I will soon be there again. I am endeavouring to 
make new sermons now and then. Sabbath evening 
I preached one on Daniel v. 27, on which I had ex- 
pended some labour ; and also two others lately. I 
visit generally four hours a day except Saturday. I 
will strive to do the work of a good hearty Methodist 
preacher in good hearty earnest. We had a grand 
meeting last night to put down horse-racing ! All the 
ministers in town co-operated in the object." 

The weekly meetings of the four ministers contri- 
buted to their mutual edification and comfort, as well 
as to the maintenance of a good understanding be- 
tween the circuits : " The four preachers breakfast 
together one morning every week. A text is selected 
in turn the week previously, and each reads a short 
sketch on it when we meet. This is very improving. 
We meet at nine, and break up at twelve." The holy 
excitement in public, with its effects, subsided for a 



274 



1 



season. Some saving good was done ; '* but we never 
think," says Mr. T., '' that matters go forward briskly 
here, unless several are converted every week." 

In this age of bustling mercantile and agricultural 
activity, of speculation and enterprise, of competition 
and rivalry, there is danger lest the e very-day claims 
of religion should be lightly regarded, and its duties, 
— especially family and closet prayer, — omitted or 
hurriedly performed. The solemn, deliberative, and 
impressive manner in which the former exercise was 
conducted by the pious Pmitans, — by Philip Henry, 
for example, — contrasts reprovingly with that of many 
moderns, who, notwithstanding, profess and call them- 
selves Christians. All the inmates of his family were 
assembled for worship, morning and evening, and the 
ordinance, sacredly observed, was rendered interesting 
and delightful. As he deemed it so important, he 
laboured to make it instructive and engaging to all. 
In the morning he arranged it so that the business of 
the day should not infringe on it, and in the evening 
so early that no little girl should be nodding at the 
chapter, nor any drowsy servant yawning through the 
prayer. '' Better one away than all sleepy," he would 
say, if occasionally obliged to begin before some ab- 
sentee retmned ; but so much did the fear of God and 
affection for the head of the household reign, that 
none were wilfully missing. It was his custom to 
expound a portion of Scriptm^e, and he encom-aged 
his children to write notes of these familiar explana- 
tions. Before they quitted the paternal roof, each of 
them had in this way received in manuscript a copious 
commentary on the Bible, which they treasured up as 
a precious memorial of their happy early days, and 



275 

their heavenly-minded father. In the hands of his 
only son these simple notes became the gem of the 
most popular English Commentary/-!* Mr. Tacka- 
berry's method, although not so elaborate, had yet 
its advantages : " At breakfast, we repeat a verse of 
Scripture and a verse of a hymn, thus securing good 
material for conversation ; and we read a chapter and 
hymn before morning and evening prayer. I do 
think our family have commenced this year with pur- 
pose of heart to devote it more fully to God than the 
last one." 

There may be bad morals, alas, where there is a 
good creed; and the most Scriptural belief will be 
small barrier to the spread of Infidelity and Popery, 
where the creed professed has no influence upon the 
lives of its professors. On this subject Mr. T. enter- 
tained strong views, which he expresses with corres- 
ponding ardour : "While Methodism and Church-of- 
Englandism are spreading in Belfast, and Presby- 
terianism is making mighty strides, Popery is gain- 
ing ground every day, and sin is slaying its thousands, 
A respectable ungodliness is fearfully prevalent. A 
great many deaths from strong drink have occurred 
lately among the middle classes of Protestants, and 
not one of them was what is called a drunkard. ! no 
—decent persons, hut free livers! And latterly there is 
little doing to check it. The Methodists, you know, 
have the best rules in the world, — could not be mended, 
— strict enough, in all conscience, for temperance or 
anything else. What can any one desire more than 
'Neither buy, sell, or drink, except in cases of extreme 
necessity?' Then I could not think of disgracing 

* Life of Mathew Henry, by the Rev. James Hamilton. 



276 

Methodism by enrolling my name in any other tern- 
perance society. ' ! I see,' you say, ' Brother Fossey 
is a red-hot teetotaller just now!' Indeed, no: he 
occupies the same ground he has done these sixteen 
years ; tries to keep our own rule in the letter and 
spirit, and stands quite erect in so doing. He would 
be temperance, teetotaller, or anything else he saw 
needful and proper, and ask no man's leave. Public 
morals, indeed, are improved in this respect of late 
years. The general voice, it may be said, is on the side 
of moderation. This is admitted ; and yet the habitual 
use of strong drink, as a beverage, prevails on every 
hand, — is all but universal. Several children of Me- 
thodists have, within the last year, drunk themselves 
into a premature grave." 

Mr. T. was emphatically a lover of good men, and 
was ever ready to speak of those he esteemed as such 
in terms of warm affection. Thus he informs his 
brother : '■' February 3rd, 1 844 : Good Dr. Aickin, 
who had a bad relapse in fever, and was given over, is 
recovering. To him death would have been gain; 
but he would be greatly missed and lamented. 
Thanks to God for his recovery ! Mr Stewart is full 
of rebuilding the Square. That will be a job ! He 
is a very blessed man, and has not one grain of idle 
flesh upon him. He is not strong, and, if he em- 
bark in that undertaking, it will greatly add to his 
labours and cares." 

On his return to Belfast from the Conference of 
1844, — resolving to begin the new Methodistic year 
well, — he observes : " Much prayer and watchfulness 
are necessary, if we would have much grace." In no- 
ticing an increase of £12 in the missionary income of 



S77 

the circuit for that year, he gives it as his judgment 
that Methodism is always in a good state wlieyi it can 
surpass itself. Attending the Cork Conference, in 
June, 1845, he records: "Paid my first visit to the 
tomb of my loved ones ; wept at the recollection of 
former days ; and then thanked the Good Being, who 
permitted me to be left without my sainted Eliza, for 
the wife he has now given me — a help meet to love 
and care for me and my dear children." 

On the 31st of August, 1 845, Mrs. William Stewart, 
whose praise is in all our Churches, exchanged earth 
for Heaven. Mr. T.'s estimate of her character was 
very exalted : " Good Mrs. Stewart, whose equal, I 
think, was not to be found among the wives of our 
ministers, died, on Sunday, after a very brief illness. 
She had ornamented religion for sixty years, and 
died, as she lived, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. 
Mr. S. has requested me to preach her funeral ser- 
mon on Sunday evening next, in the chapel where 
she used to w^orship. I never felt the same amount 
of responsibility on such an occasion. She was the 
most remarkable woman I have known." The event 
was sanctified to himself: " Mrs Stewart's death and 
other matters have driven me to my knees, and to 
self-examination more frequently of late than was 
usual with me. I begin to feel I ought to be ready 
— ought to stand, lamp in hand, waiting for the 
Master's coming. A man at forty-nine ought to begin 
j to reckon on removal as not far distant, — at least it may 
not be. I believe three die before fifty for one who 
lives to a later period." And it was sanctified also to 
his ministry : "I never preached so plainly in my 
life, so directly at the heart and conscience, as I am 

2b 



278 

* 

striving to do now. ! the place of a Methodist 
preacher is a very responsible one ! I receive many 
baptisms from above myself, but I need an abiding 
nearness to God, and without it I cannot be as use- 
ful as I otherwise might." The pointed style referred 
to did not lessen the number of hearers, but the con- 
trary : " Our congregations were never so large in 
Frederick Street Chapel since it was built as now." 
This speaks well for their good sense and their desire 
to profit by the Word preached. 

Already, Mr. T. has been exhibited as an example 
of strong and unceasing filial affection. Among the 
many refreshing manifestations of it, the following 
claims the imitative attention of children professing 
godliness : "I often pray for you, and sometimes feel 
as if I had power and prevailed. O ! may every bless- 
ing for time and eternity be the portion of my own 
dear mother!" x\nd he seized the opportunity of 
festivals, as well as other particular occasions, to add 
to her happiness. This he does, December 25, 1845 : 
'' I write to wish you the holy joys of the season. We 
are all alive and in our usual health, surrounded with 
unnumbered blessings ! And glory be to God, that 
my dear, dear mother, now within eight months of 
her seventieth year, is alive to bless her offspring ; 
and better still, alive to God, and cherishing a good 
hope of life eternal ! I my mother ! We shall live 
for ever — live with all that is excellent and glorious in 
God's universe; live with God himself! What shall 
we be this day ten thousand years ! 

" My days go on busily and happily. Yesterday, 
for the first time, I married two couple in one ceremony. 
In honour of that event I presented each of the ladies 



•279 

with a copy of our hymns. At five went to see old 
Widow Magennis in the hospital. This poor woman 
had her ribs broken by a cart passing over her on the 
street ; and when, on my seeing her first, I expressed 
a hope of recovery for her, she said, if God would 
have mercy on her, she had rather die ; for if she left 
that house alive, she should be unable to earn her 
bread, and she had not a friend or relation to go to — 
no door open in this world to take her in. My heart 
ached for her. I pointed her to the open ' door' — to 
the sinners' Friend- the Friend of the friendless; and 
yesterday had the pleasure of hearing from her own 
lips, ' God has pardoned me ; I feel peace ; Christ 
wdll save me !' O ! what a Saviour is He ! At eight 
I went to a temperance tea-meeting, held in connexion 
with one of the great flax-mills in this town, and was 
not home till twelve. Not having preparation made 
for morning. I sat until near two in my study, slept 
little, preached at half-past six, married another 
couple at eleven, and have now sat down to write to 
my beloved mother !" 

The formation of the Evangelical Alliance was 
hailed by Mr. T. with unfeigned joy and lively hope. 
Speaking of Belfast, he says : " On Wednesday even- 
ing we had a meeting of ministers of all the Protestant 
denominations in town, to form a branch of the Evan- 
gelical Alliance. I have seen no meeting in my life 
from which I augiu* so much good. Let that spirit 
be diffused, and the benefit to the Church of God 
will be incalculable." 

The original movement, unquestionably, was one 
in the right direction ; and that much good has been 
done by it, few of my readers will deny ; but whether 



280 

the constitution of the Alliance is sufficiently com- 
plete, and whether the oneness of believers in the 
several Churches of Protestantism has been manifested 
according to the will of Christ, may still admit of a 
doubt. The parties to such an alliance should be the 
Disciples of Christ, — •" that they all might be one;" 
they should be members of the one spieitual Church 
of which He is the Head , and the model of their 
union should be that subsisting between the Father 
and the Son : ** That they all may be one as thou 
Father art in me and I in thee, that they may be one 
in us." But how can such union exist, much less be 
developed, unless the members of the Alliance be 
spiritual, and consequently the subjects oi personal re- 
generation f If the branches be not vitally united to 
the vine, the members to the Head, how can they be 
sincerely and cordially united to one another ? What- 
ever difficulty there may have been in organizing the 
Alliance upon other than a doctrinal basis, the will of 
Christ, above refeiTed to, indicates, with sufficient 
clearness, the necessity of individual spkituality, for 
the purposes of such a confederation. '' He that 
loveth God" with filial affection, as the result of his 
own justification and adoption, and he only, will "love 
his brother also," with a pure heart fervently. The 
filial relation is essential to the existence and mani- 
festation of fraternal affection. And if the Alliance 
has not blessed '' the world " to the extent desired 
and anticipated, will not these considerations serve, 
in great part, to explain the reason ? Meanwhile, for 
the amount of good it has done, all the friends of our 
common Christianity must rejoice. 

Mr. T.'s account of the Alliance meetings he at- 



tended at Liverpool shows how his heart went with 
ihe movement : " The Liverpool meetings are worth 
describing. I never saw, — indeed I never expect to 
see, — anything like them outside the gates of Paradise. 
There were present about 150 members of the com* 
mittee, amongst whom might be thirty laymen, re- 
presenting seventeen Protestant denominations, and 
embracing in the representation several of the greatest 
and best ministers in England, Ireland and Scotland, 
Of the English Episcopal Church, I admire the fol- 
lowing: Bickersteth, Haldane Stewart, Dr. Byrth, 
Baptist Noel : of the Presbyterians — Dr. Buchanan, 
Dr. King and others; of the Moravians — Latrobe 
and others ; of the Independents — Dr. Baffles, J. A. 
James, Massey and others ; of the Wesleyans — Dr» 
Bunting, T. Waugh and others. The object of the 
meetings was to bring together the truly excellent, in 
the various denominations, who will agree on the 
eight propositions of the Liverpool Conference of 
1^45. These eight propositions you must have seen 
in the public prints. They are drawn up with admi- 
rable wisdom and skill. I never witnessed anything 
like the spirit of the meeting. Every morning we 
began by three prayers, a psalm, two hymns, and one 
or two chapters of God s Word, — some eminent mi* 
nister presiding over the devotional exercises. Sir 
C. Eardley was the ordinary chairman. No motion 
was passed at any sitting until every one in the room 
either approved of it, or, at least, was satisfied ! 

** The w^hole were entertained at the house of 
Christian friends, as our Preachers are at Conference. 
I stopped at the house of aWesleyan, Thomas Davis, 
Esq., on the Birkenhead side of the Mersey. We all 



282 

dined at two, — ^acold dinner at free cost, — in the school- 
room, under Mr. Lister's Baptist Church. Dr. Baffles 
was chairman at the dinner- table ; and never in my 
life did I see such a mixture of the Christian spirit, 
with the innocently playful, as at these dinner and 
tea meetings — for we took tea at four, and sat from five 
until ten. The Hon. and Kev. B. Noel and two 
Wesleyans stopped with a Baptist family. Since my 
return to Belfast, I was invited by the ministers, wha 
are members of committee, to meet them, and give 
an account of my mission, which I did at eleven on 
Monday. I had previously published to make a state- 
ment to my own congregation next Sunday evening. 
Meantime Mr. Gibson, the minister of Dr. Hannah's 
Church, waited on me, and requested me to let it be 
announced through town that I would occupy his 
pulpit on that evening, as his house would contain 
3,000 ; but I declined, having been previously 
pledged to my own congregation." 

The attendance at the new chapel in Frederick 
Street, the principal chapel on his circuit, continued 
to improve. " The congregations are better," says Mr, 
T., '*than at any period since the house was opened, 
taking the average. The chapel is always respectably 
attended on the Sabbath, — generally full : but we have 
not a corresponding number of persons joining our 
classes. Did you hear the preaching they sit under, 
you would wonder either that they did not join the 
society, or cease their attendance ! We had a re- 
newal of the covenant after preaching last night, Jan. 
5, 1845, which will not soon be forgotten." The 
news of next month was still more cheering : "I 
have seen twenty and twenty-five profess conversion 



283 

of a Sunday night. Still," he adds, fervently longing 
for yet greater displays of Divine power, '* there is no 
right breaking down." 

The increase of worshippers, also, in the Belfast 
South Circuit required an increase of church accom- 
modation. To this Mr. T. adverts in reply to an en- 
quiring friend: ''You ask about the rebuilding of 
Donegall Square. So soon as Mr. Stewart can find 
£1,500, Mr. M'Connell will find an equal sum, and 
then with £3,000 to commence, on it goes." Mr. 
Stewart did find the amount, having, by a Conference 
arrangement, travelled through the kingdom to pro- 
cure it ; and the noble hearted William M'Connell, — - 
the fondly attached and faithful friend of Methodism, — - 
contributed the munificent sum of one thousand five 
HUNDRED POUNDS towards the erection, which he re- 
joiced to see completed, and in which he worshipped, 
up to the time of his decease, with manifest delight 
and profit. 

Mr. T. having visited his friends in Tomagaddy, in 
the Spring of 1846, writes to his mother on his re- 
turn : '• Short as my visit was, it did my spirit great 
good. To see my dear family, even for a little, is to 
me no small gratification ; while the hasty natm*e of 
om^ interviews, and the constant separations, tell me 
afresh : ' This is not our rest.' ! mother, if we 
get to Heaven after all, will it not be glorious ! 
My mind turns to it ; my heart longs for it ; I hope 
yet to be there." He was distinguished for fraternal 
kindness as well as for filial tenderness : " Eemember 
me to my dear, dear, dear sisters and brothers. ! 
but it does my heart good to see them." Here ends 
his correspondence from Belfast. 



284 

Mr, Tackaberry was appointed, by the Conference 
of 1846, to the Sligo circuit, where his ministry ter- 
minated with his Ufe. Little did his Belfast friends 
anticipate that, vigorous and energetic as he was, and 
likely to run his race of holy zeal and usefulness for 
many years, in less than twelve months he should 
finish his course, — that they should see his face no 
more. The mournful sequel is fraught with lessons 
of solemn instruction and warning. 

Immediately on his arrival, to relieve the anxieties 
of his " dearest mother," he informs her : *' All the 
children are very well, and quite taken up with the 
newness of everything here. Our house is a good 
one, consisting of nine rooms, beside kitchen, pantry, 
scullery, and coal vault. The young preacher has 
two of the best rooms, leaving us seven, three of 
which have fire-places, beside the kitchen. There 
is a small garden, which I prize beyond its value, as 
a play-ground for the children. We are almost in the 
country ; hence the air is good, very much better than 
where our house stood in Cork or Belfast. The 
markets, I perceive, are a little cheaper, so that, though 
our salary is under that of Belfast, I expect our expendi- 
ture will also be under. Mr. Jas. S. Waugh, my helper, 
is very much beloved, seems to be very agreeable, and 
I hope to show him a little kindness in return for that 
his father showed me twenty-two years ago, when I 
travelled with him. We have a small society and con- 
gregation here compared with that to which I have been 
accustomed the last three years ; however, I believe 
there is room for us to enlarge our borders if we can. 
I do not expect our boxes to reach before a week. This 
will be some inconvenience ; but, when one is made 



285 

up to it, trifles of the sort sit lightly on the mind. 
The people here are very glad of our appointment. 
They have received us as sent of God ; and, if He be 
with us, all will be right." 

Writing to his brother, August 11, he describes 
theu" inconveniences with that buoyant cheerfulness 
which was ever so characteristic of the man : " T have 
now been in eleven out of fourteen country places. 

Mr. said the country part was nicer than any 

where he had been. I think he forgot . I 

found two places where oats were not to be had for love 
or money : so much for my unfortunate three-year-old 
racer ! As to myself I am quite comfortable, and 
will be so. We have agreed with a painter to paper 
and paint this house. A fortnight is the time agreed 
on, but it is well if a month will suffice, for I have 
met no person yet who thinks of doing anything at 
the time promised. I fancy it would not be " lucky" 
to do so ! However, the upshot of all this, I hope, 
will be that we shall have a decent room for you to 
spend a fortnight in, when you come to see this pic- 
turesque and beautifully-romantic country, for which 
nature has done so much, but man so little." 

The picture he draws of the town, and of the ap- 
i pearance, manners and habits of the people, is suf- 
: ficiently sombre, because, as yet. Protestantism had 
1 not been permitted to exert its elevating influence 
lupon the masses of the population: " Sligo, the 
(Capital of this *far West,' is a straggling town, with 
! lane-like streets, dingy, irregular houses, and narrow 
(footpaths upon which scarcely any person walks. I 
never saw so many asses in all my life before, with 
! panniers, churns, loads of turf, hay, straw, &c., at 



286 

either side of their unfortunate backs ; and generally 
a big male or female urchin dragging their halterless 
heads, or pushing then* goaded tails. Saturday is 
the great market day of the week, and, ! such a 
day ! The streets on that day are literally choked — 
all but absolutely impassable. On other days few 
asses and horses are tied to the doors— on that 
hundreds! Generally there are a few standings, 
stalls, &c., in the streets; but on Saturday you have 
tents, tables, booths, &c., ' galore !' and the drapery 
and festooning is sm-passing ! Pork and salmon are 
good, cheap, and plenty, and so would potatoes, were 
it not for the all but universal blight. Then cheap 
or dear you can scarcely get any article weighed. 
Everything is vieasured, and that is the measure ! And, 
if you make an observation, the reply is, ' 'Tis a 
good ould quart — and an Jionest one too. 'Deed and 
'tis a fair bushel in this country, yer honom* !' 'Deed 
it is an honest quart ! The bottom so well thrust 
up, though previously placed an inch or two above 
the rim, that it matters little whether you measure 
with it head or tail foremost — you have about a pint 
either way ! 

" We hear nothing from morning to night but the 
potato rot, and I do not wonder. Where it will end, 
or what can be done, I know not." 

The gloomy prospect was not relieved by the fact 
related in the postscript: *'A man on the circuit 
placed a harrow in an open door, between my racer 
and a room w here oats were kept, on Satinrday night, 
and poor Sir Koger tore himself badly in one hip with 
the harrow pins. Without letting Mr. Waugh know, 
he was sent home to me on Sunday morning. What 



287 

a preparation for the day's preaching ! I have put 
him with his wounds to grass— 50 we are again on 
footy These dark pencillings will serve as a back 
ground for the religious intelligence : " The fortnight 
I spent in London was very agreeable. The Alliance 
movement I consider a remarkable and hopeful one. 
Indeed, if this spirit continue to prevail, it cannot fail 
to do good in the Church and the world. We held 
our District meeting in Ballina on Wednesday. It 
was a profitable time ; and, what is not often the case, 
all appeared pleased with the division made of the 
contingent grant." (Mr. T. was the chairman.) "The 
young brethren on trial have agreed to prepare for an 
examination at the May district, in Wesley on Original 
Sin, the first volume of Home's Introduction to 
the Critical Study of the Scriptures, D'Aubigne's Ee- 
formation, and the epistles to the Komans and He- 
brews. I am not without hope that this examination 
will be made useful to them, to myself, and the 
brethren of the district. The more I know of the 
circuit, I like it the better. Prayer and expectation 
are in exercise, and I trust God will favour us with a 
good year." 

Thenceforward, his home correspondence is chiefly 
a history of the famine, with its frightful train of calami- 
ties, — calamities which deeply affected his sympathetic 
nature, and, there is room to fear, predisposed him 
for the disease which terminated his valuable life. A 
correct idea may be formed of the condition of the 
country from such extracts as the following : " Oct. 1 : 
I believe things are now at the worst, and pro- 
visions higher than they will be before next August; 
but the people are within an inch of desperation. I 



288 

think we will soon have thousands of tons of Indian 
com from America which has not yet had time to 
arrive, and then prices must fall; hut those who 
ought to soothe the public mind, and from their posi- 
tion might do so, are mad ! They ' must have their 
rents or their land,' is the cry to a starving, maddened 
tenantry ; but not a word of explanation or comfort. 
Human nature cannot long bear up under such pri- 
vations and sufferings. My heart aches for the people. 
A teeming population ; no potatoes^ and nothing in 
their stead ! Still, as David thought, it is better fall 
into the hands of God, than into the hands of man." 
*' November 28 : We are well, thank God, and have 
food to eat. At any time these are mercies, but this 
year especially so. ! the starvation I have wit- 
nessed the last three weeks! Were it not for the 
public works, we should have robbery and plunder on 
a broad scale ; but, though pi^oductive of much good, 
they cannot meet the case. Hundreds in this country 
will, I think, die of hunger this year. On Thm^sday 
we got a soup kitchen opened. I went and purchased 
a few tickets for gratuitous distribution ; but the poor do 
not much care for it without bread. The state of things 
is unfavourable to piety ; the public eye and ear are 
so occupied with sights and tales of woe. There 
seems scarcely room for any subject but what shall I 
eat? It is truly appalling !" 

"December 2: Within the last three weeks I 
visited, in town and country, about sixty of the poorest 
families I could hear of. Such scenes of wretched- 
ness these eyes never witnessed ! Cottiers and eon- 
acre men are very badly off ; but squatters, hundreds 
of whom are in this country, worst of all. A squatter 



tl 



289 

is one who builds a temporary cabin upon a bog or 
mountain, the former of choice, as furnishing firing ; 
reclaims a spot on which he plants a few potatoes, 
and these are all his. He pays no rent, owns no 
landlord, keeps possession while he may, and, when 
disturbed or driven off, has little to leave when aban- 
doning his cabin. We have no appearance of a tm^n- 
ing to God as the result of all this — no, not the least 
sign of it. Indeed Popery, under the rod, waxes 
worse and worse ! And then the gentry are at their 
wit's end. I have discovered whole families living on 
one meal of boiled cabbage each day for five days 
preceding my enquiry ! You see I consider our con- 
dition here very unfavourable to piety. The mind is 
filled with this state of things — -filled — no room for 
anything else. You see my own mind is full of it, 
and so would yours, if you were here. Our Sunday 
and week-evening congregations are noble for Sligo." 
" December 5 : We have good congregations, but 
little beside which gives promise of a revival ; indeed, 
such is the state of the public mind that every sub- 
ject is precluded but the all-absorbing one, — food. I 
have kept an account of every family I visited who 
were in extreme want, principally with the view of 
stirring up others to visit them ; or, at least, to direct 
public attention to them. You would be surprised at 
the number of persons who have made up their minds 
to stay within doors and die, — aye, die of want ! and 
no one is seeking out in order to relieve these sons 
and daughters of destitution. True, they are, for the 
most part, Komanists ; but are they to be let die ?" 
Deeply engrained as was his aversion to Popery, thus 
compassionately did he distinguish between the peo- 

2 c 



290 

pie and the system : "I have almost wished to be in 
America the last week! What to do for the thou- 
sands who are starving I know not, and it is hard to 
look at them." The view is somewhat relieved in his 
next: " Of my family I have good to tell. We are 
wonderfully well, and have food to eat. Never did I 
feel that so great a mercy as now. I am endeavour- 
ing to keep my eye on a better country, and to do a 
little good while in this. 

" There are a few old Methodists on this ckcuit, — 
iine specimens of a former race. Old Mr. Lytle, one 
for seventy years, aged eighty-four. He was brought 
to God, through Mr. Graham's instrumentality, before 
he went out as a preacher. Mr. Lytle heard the 
venerable Wesley three or four times, and is himself 
a holy man. Mr. Smith Henry, aged eighty-five, 
many years a Wesleyan ; he can accurately describe 
Mr. Wesley's person, is a more cheerful man than 
Mr. Lytle, and both have been leaders for many years. 
The latter is circuit steward." 

In February, he writes : " The state of this town 
and circuit is awfiil beyond anything which can be 
imagined, unless you saw it. No written statements 
can convey to you the reality: famine, dysentery, 
fever, death everywhere. ! 'tis positively appalling ! 
Since the 9th of November, I have given from three 
to five hours a day in town, and often in the country, 
to visiting the poor, the sick and dying ; and I gene- 
rally visit three Eomanist families for one Protestant, 
On Saturday I was in a small room in which a 
woman and her two children were in one bed in 
fever, and in another a woman and child, and no one 
to give them meat or drink." 



291 

The money raised by the Wesleyans in England 
for the relief of Irish distress was to be distributed, 
according to Dr. Bunting's suggestion, to Koman 
Catholics as well as Protestants. To this a friend 
having objected, Mr. T. rejoins : "I do not think so 
unfavourably of Dr. Bunting's plan as you do. Fart 
will be reserved as a special fund to be given to 
Wesleyans only. I found a case in point this week, 
an interesting girl, with a widowed mother, and three 
younger sisters, all lying in bed a whole Sabbath fast- 
ing ; but no complaint, — ^no application, — nor could 
leader or preacher elicit the state of their circum- 
stances. I have been much among the poor the last 
month, and things, I assure you, are in an awful state. 
Many are dying. Many must die ! ! the misery 
I witness ! Want of night and day clothing, firing 
and food ! First weak, then sick, then very ill, then 
dying, and none to save, and then dead ! Jehovah's 
red right arm is bared, is stretched forth! His 
lightning flashes ! but who regards it ?" He notices 
gratefully his own circumstances in contrast : '* Be- 
fore I leave for the country to-morrow, I rejoice to 
tell you, at the close of another fortnight, that, in the 
midst of the general destitution, we have food, fuel, 
clothing ; in the midst of sickness, health ; and sur- 
rounded with moral darkness, darkness that may be 
felt, we have light in our dwelling, and the door-post 
of our house is sprinkled with the blood !" 

Mr. T. eagerly availed himself of the opportunities 
thus afforded him for doing spiritual good also : "I 
have got tracts from our Book-room which I give and 
lend as I visit; I pray with most of the Protestants, 
and I tell the Eomanists of Him who made satis- 



292 

faction for them on Calvary. At last the mental 
pressure became such as to endanger his own life : 
" About six weeks since my mind sunk very much 
for a week or two, from beholding the misery around 
me : I found myself often affected to tears, when I 
went into my study, or whenever I was alone ; but I 
thought this would expose me to the influence of 
fever, disqualify me for usefulness, and dispirit me in 
every effort I might make, so I looked up for help, 
shook it off, and am myself again." 

The intensity of his sympathy with the suffering 
poor, and the extent to which he administered relief 
out of his own resources, — extraneous supplies not 
having reached as promptly as the necessities of the 
case demanded, — will explain the following : " I would 
be glad to lie by for awhile, but this is out of the 
question. Good Mr. Graham used to say, * the life 
of a Methodist preacher was to keep him poor and 
busy :' so that we have life here to perfection I" 

By this time (April) the price of food was lower,, 
there were not so many in a starving condition, and 
Mr. T. was, to a great extent, *' himself again." Ever 
ready to see, feel, and express his motives for grati- 
tude, contrasting his lot with that of multitudes 
around, he says : " Healthy, in the midst of sickness ; 
happy in the midst of misery ; cheerful, generally, in 
the midst of gloom ; abounding in the midst of w^ant ; 
have not I cause to be thankful ?" He had other 
causes as well : " Oin: missionary meetings are over^ 
and they were interesting, numerously attended, 
good. I was at Annadale and Drumshambo yesterday, 
and was glad to meet some to whom the Lord made 
me useful three-and-twenty years ago, steadily pious, 
and going on their way rejoicing," 



293 

The last letter he ever wrote, — the fruit of filial 
affection undiminished in its strength and tenderness. 
— refers to a prevailing epidemic by which he was 
attacked, but from which he speedily recovered ; and 
describes the condition in which he found the boy 
from whom it is believed he took the fever of which 
he died : 

*' My dearest Mother, — Since I wrote you last, I 
have had to conduct the business of our district meet- 
ing, attend missionary meetings, and look after 
various other matters beside my ordinary duties. 
However I have been very well, and very cheerful, 
everything considered, excepting the one day's attack 
of which I wrote you. Sunday and Monday, April 
25-6, a burning wind passed over this part of the 
country, which was very injurious to vegetable life. 
The hedge-rows appeared, — indeed appear still,- — as 
if a red hot brand had been passed along them, and 
nearly every second person was attacked with bowel 
affections. 

*' I w^as driven, on Monday last, to seek shelter for 
self and horse, from a violent shower, in a poor cabin. 
In a shed, at the end of it, lay a poor orphan boy of ten 
years old, who was taken from the side of his brother's 
dead body, in a wood, four days previously. The 
little wretch soon had his story told. ' His father, a 
tailor, died five years ago ; his mother soon after, 
leaving three sons, — the eldest, sixteen, went off seek- 
ing work, and was not heard of since ; the second, 
aged fourteen, worked in spring and harvest for his 
bit, but this hard year could get no one to employ him. 
They begged, but got little for begging, every one 
bidding them go away. They became ragged, 



294 

dirty, sickly- looking ; the people were afraid they had 
fever, and would not let them in. They slept under 
hedges, went into the wood, lay under a holly tree ; 
the elder gaye all he got to the yonngerj and lived 
himself on water-grass. He soon became weak, and 
died four days ago/ This poor child was all hut 
dead when discovered. There he was now in the 
shed, and the poor man could get no one to take him 
away ; while his own large family were not far re- 
moved from starving. 

*' On Tuesday I hired a car, took cap, shirt, vest^ 
coat, trousers, stockings, boots; comb, scissors, soap^ 
towel, brush. His condition I shall not attempt to 
describe. I had his hair cut close, and himself wash- 
ed and brushed with soap and warm water again and 
again and again ; Hfted him naked into the cabin, and 
dressed him from head to foot. His first remark 
was, ' Ah, if any one had done this for my poor 
brother, he would not have died.' 

'' I have him at lodging in this town. He is an 
intelligent little fellow; and, I think, of an affectionate 
disposition ; and I hope Patrick Feeny will soon be 
able to go out as an errand boy or servant, if we can 
procure a place for him. He could not have lived 
many days in the shed. All very well ; and all send 
loves to Grandma. Your affectionate old son, 

F. Tackabeeky." 

This letter was written on the 13th of May, and 
on the 20th he returned to Sligo from the Boyle 
circuit, where he had been at missionary meetings, 
on v/hich day he first complained of indisposition. 
His disease proved to be typhus fever, which baffled 
all medical skill and attention. He did not speak 



S95 

much during his illness ; but, while consciousness^ 
remained, frequently uttered short exclamations of 
praise and prayer. *' Thank God," he said at one 
time, "My lamp is trimmed I" He frequently re- 
peated Heb. iv. I65 and with peculiar emphasis, 
pausing at each clause, as if to ponder its meaning : 
" Let us, therefore— come boldly— unto the Throne — 
of Grace — ^that we may obtain mercy- — ^and find grace 
—to help — in— time of need." His disease soon 
rendered articulation imperfect, and in a few days 
impossible. This eminently devoted and useful 
servant of Jesus Christ entered into the joy of his 
Lordj June 3, 1847, in the 51st year of his age, and 
25th of his ministry. 

During his residence in Sligo, short as it was, he 
secured the esteem and affection of all who knew him. 
His public intercessions became more fervent, and 
his preaching more powerfully impressive, as his end 
drew near. His friendly and pastoral intercourse 
was pervaded with a spirit of still deeper piety, of still 
holier zeaL The increase of his spirituality was ob- 
served with admiration and encouragement by the 
people of his chai-ge. He had morning prayer- 
meetings established, visited the sick poor everywhere, — 
in the lanes and alleys of the town, and in the re- 
motest districts of the country where he could have 
access,— often leaving his horse in the care of a man 
on the road side, and travelling over bogs and ditches 
in quest of the sons and daughters of want and suf- 
fering, of whom he had heard. These visits he made 
the occasion of administering spiritual counsel and 
consolation as well as physical relief His brethren 
at the district meeting were much struck with the 



S96 

spirit in which he conducted the official business, — 
so solemn, so heavenly. At his desire, they com- 
memorated with him the love of Christ in the 
Sacramental Supper, never more to enjoy such privilege 
together until they should drink the new wine in the 
kingdom of God. 

For three months before his death, his prayers at 
family worship were observed to be more earnest, 
vaiied and importunate than they had ever been 
before. His seasons for rethement were attended to 
with greater regularity and punctuality. He and his 
esteemed colleague often conversed and prayed to- 
gether. The Evangelical Alliance meetings in Sligo 
yielded him much hallowed enjoyment. One who 
knew the fact says he could scarcely have been 
happier out of Paradise. He was consequently 
greatly beloved by the members of that Alliance. He 
manifested no anxiety, except to have his will per- 
fected. From the first he had no hope of recovery. 
The fourth morning of his illness, hearing singing 
and prayer in the chapel, he expressed delight that 
the prayer-meetings had not been given up, evincing 
strong desire for the prosperity of the Sligo society. 
One day, at an advanced stage of the disease, after 
being apparently for a length of time unconscious, he 
opened his eyes and prayed : " ! Holy Spirit, the 
Comforter, comfort my wife!" Often, during his 
illness, did he thank God for the kind hands that 
ministered to him. Several Eoman Cathohcs came 
miles to attend his funeral at eight o'clock in the 
morning. His funeral sermon was preached by the 
Kev. Noble Shepherd, Independent minister, to an 
excessively crowded congregation. To him, therefore, 



297 

whose '* life and labours" form the subject of these 
pages, the lines of Dr. Watts will be regarded as 
strikingly applicable : — 

" How fine has the day been ! How bright was the sun ! 
How lovely and joyful the course that he run ! 
Though he rose in a mist, when his race he begun. 

And there foUow'd some droppings of rain. 
But now the fair traveller comes to the West, 
His rays are all gold, and his beauties are best ; 
He paints the sky gay, as he sinks to his rest, 

And foretells a bright rising again. 
Just such is the Christian : his course he begins 
Like the sun in a mist, while he mourns for his sins, 
And melts into tears ; then he breaks out and shines, 

And travels his heavenly way : 
But when he comes nearer to finish his race. 
Like a fine setting sun he looks richer in grace. 
And gives a sure hope, at the end of his daysj 

Of rising in brighter array !" 



CHAP. X. 



CONCLUSION. 



The main features of Mr. Tackaberry's portrait, 
intellectually, spiritually, ministerially, having been 
brought out in the foregoing narrative, it is believed 
that any who ever saw and heard him will not need 
doubtingly to enquire " Is it like ?" It only remains, 
therefore, in conclusion, to blend those delineations, 
by a few finishing strokes, so as to render the picture 
somewhat more complete. 

Mr. T.'s general manner was easy, affable, affec- 
tionate, highly calculated to please all for their good to 
edification. Eespectful to the aged, — regarding those 
with a truly religious veneration whose hoary head 
was found in the way of righteousness ; kindly as- 
siduous in his attention to the young, — in whose wel- 
fare he ever discovered a lively interest, by a winning 
carriage, and by the familiar communication of Scrip- 
tural knowledge, — attentions probably influenced by 
the fact that some of his own early spiritual desires 
were received under such teaching from his good 
grandmother Cranwill, who diligently instructed 
children to pray, to fear a lie, to love and serve God, — 
always aiming to render the impression deep and 
permanent by the consideration of eternal rewards 



i 



299 

and punishments. Unambitious also to mind high 
things, Mi\ T. condescended to men of low estate. 
For such reasons, it might almost be said he was uni- 
versally beloved in those circles where he had friendly 
or official intercourse. 

The graciousness of his manner was not assumed : 
it was the natural, the necessary fruit of a benevolent 
disposition. To this disposition, itself divinely im- 
planted, is to be traced his efforts, from the first, to 
alleviate human misery. Before he entered the 
ministr}% — so had the grace and Providence of God 
disposed and enabled him, — he did incalculable good 
to poor Romanists and Protestants alike, by ad- 
ministering medicine, in which, by study, he had 
acqubed some skill, and by donations of money, as 
urgent necessity required. " Never," says his Aunt 
Morris, " could I forget the benignant kindness of 
his look and manner, one morning that he came to 
preach to us, the door not having been opened, and 
a large number of respectable friends waiting outside, 
when a poor squallid old man, tottering from the 
opposite side, made known his complaint, and asked 
his advice. He stopped, bent towards him, heard 
him out, told him what to do, and put the means of 
relief into his hand. I thought, while thus engaged, 
he looked more than human." 

His piety was deep and unaffected ; and the spirit 
which he breathed, usually, was that of a Christian 
whose love abounded yet more and more in knowledge 
and in all judgment. His conversation, sermons and 
prayers were those of one who was a conscious par- 
taker of the Divine favour and image. His constant 
and touching references to the atonement and priest- 



300 

hood of the Son of God gave evidence of the heart- 
felt delight he felt in dwelling on these glorious 
themes. Seldom have I met any person in whom re- 
ligion appeared more attractive. In his demeanour 
there was no repulsive moroseness ; nothing that 
could tempt an observer to confound godliness with 
gloom. In him cheerfulness and seriousness were 
instructively blended. Some there are whose piety 
we are unwilling to question, who dwell so continually, 
in thought and word, on sombre subjects, — tempta- 
tions, deficient grace, and impracticable requirements, 
— as to produce the impression on the pleasure-loving 
world that they serve a hard task-master. Not so, Mr. 
Tackaberry. In his case duty was esteemed as pri- 
vilege ; his w^ork was his pleasure ; so that he could 
say, "I find Thy service my reward." His own will 
lost in the will of God, he felt it delightfully easy to 
bear the yoke of Him whom he regarded as his 
Master, Friend and Saviour. Thus did he prove that 
*'love is the fulfilling of the law." By a diligent use 
of the means of grace, especially in private, he sought 
to obtain a constant increase of this love. He was 
emphatically a man of prayer ; and it has already 
been seen that it was in the exercises of the closet 
chiefly he rose to that spirituality for which he was 
so distinguished. Unlike the '' many " who inquire, 
in the language of chagrin and disappointment, " who 
will show us any good?" he had found the chief good, 
the true repose and tranquillity of soul, which passeth 
all understanding, and which the world cannot give, 
in the fruition of the Divine favour ; having con- 
sciously received an answer to the prayer : " Lord 
lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me." 



301 

Hence, the holy unction, the powerful demonstration 
of the Spirit, which marked his public ministrations : 

** When one who holds communion with the skies, 
Has filled his urn whence these pure waters rise ; 
And once more mingles with us meaner things, 
'Tis e'en as if an angel shook his mngs; 
Immortal fragrance fills the circuit wide, 
That tells us whence his treasures are supplied !" 

If ever Mr. Tackaberry's cheerfulness seemed to 
pass the proper line, — and occasionally his ordinarily 
good spirits might be said to overflow, — it rarely, if 
ever, degenerated into pointless humour, much less 
profane levity. At such times it would rather be re- 
garded by the candid and chaiitabie observer as a 
constitutional playfulness, or the extreme joyousness 
of a man who had cast all his care on God. That 
his piety was always unalloyed, no one acquainted 
with him would venture to assert. To affirm that he 
uniformly made the best use of money; that he never 
spoke with undue warmth of those whose conduct he 
disapproved ; or, that his feelings never, in any in- 
stance, ran before his judgment, would perhaps be say- 
ing more than the facts, in all cases, would warrant. 
But as the "needle," transiently disturbed by mag- 
netic influences on the adjoining coast, soon recovers 
from its vibrations, and points to the pole with its 
wonted integrity: thus speedily did Mr. T.'s mind re- 
cover from dangerous fluctuations, so that he prose- 
cuted his heaven- ward voyage " with steady helm, and 
well -bent sail." 

Mr. Tackaberry was a diligent student. He had a 
large and well- selected library, and was anxious to 

2 D 



302 

cultivate every branch of useful knowledge. He 
prized the attainment of scientific or literary infor- 
mation in proportion as it enabled him to understand 
and elucidate the Word of God. Generally, he was 
deeply engaged in such pursuits soon after five o'clock 
in the morning. With a volume of his Walton's 
Polyglott before him, and with Lexicons, Commen- 
taries, and other works of reference, he searched the 
oracles Divine, earnestly, assiduously, prayerfully ; 
desirous that the Word of Christ might dwell in him 
richly in all wisdom. His etymological knowledge 
often enabled him to clothe, with all the charms of 
novelty, subjects which otherwise might have been 
commonplace and uninteresting. Although he read 
the Scriptures with more or less facility in six or seven 
different languages, the simple object of these studies 
was, not that he might become a thorough linguist, 
but that he might understand, appreciate, and be able 
to expound those truths which God has revealed for 
the instruction and salvation of the children of men. 
He delighted in expository preaching, for which he 
was himself peculiarly adapted. His style was not 
florid, nor did he aim at being euphonious. He was 
clear, laconic, forcible; and, when greatly excited, 
diffuse and declammatory, — at such times stirring the 
deepest emotions of the heart. His aim, however, 
was to tecbch, — not merely to convince, warn, persuade, 
— in every sermon ; and hence his efforts to enrich 
his mind with such varied information as might en- 
able him to array Divine truth in the most luminous 
and attractive garb. His knowledge of history and 
of the arts and sciences, often gave him a facility in 



808 

presenting the themes of his discourses under aspects 
singularly striking and impressive. He had a de- 
cided preference for the study of oriential languages 
and usages ; and a singular and lively aptitude for 
illustrating Christian doctrine by the Jewish cere- 
monial, and by the manners and customs of an- 
cient nations. Lightfoot, Kitto, Eoberts and others, 
therefore, who have been the principal expositors of 
the Mosaic economy were with him favourite authors. 
He has been sometimes heard to say that the kind 
of sermon most pleasing to him would be one in which 
there might be plenty of luminous exposition, inter- 
mingled with striking eastern illustrations, and 
wound up with a pointed and powerful application. 
He was well read in the writings of the principal 
Puritan Divines ; but while, in some respects, he most 
admired Howe, he rather modelled his style after- 
Baxter, whose tone of voice, he used to say, as well 
as pungent exhortations, affected the people to tears. 
The pathetic fervour with which Mr. T. appealed to 
the heart, combined with his other qualities, made 
him popular everywhere. 

In his ministry no maudlin sentimentality was ever 
allowed to dilute the sincere milk of the Word. He 
magnified the law, and dwelt with much fidelity on the 
evil and demerit of sin, as the transgressions of that law. 
So vivid and graphic have been his descriptions of 
several prevailing vices, that many of his guilty audi- 
tors felt his words were " as arrows in the hearts of the 
King's enemies." His sermons were effective, because 
he did not preach /or his congregations, but to them. 
Never could they forget that his business was with 



304 

them individually. To stand in the pulpit merely to 
repeat before the audience an ingenious essay ; to seek 
applause by the gracefulness of his gestures or the 
harmony of his sentences, — making such applause 
his end, — was, in his judgment, to desecrate the sacred 
office, contract fearful guilt, and heavily incur the 
Divine displeasure. He preached to sinners as if he 
had just received his commission at the foot of the 
Cross. Losing sight of himself, this earnest minister 
came amongst them : 

" With cries, entreaties, tears, to save, — 
To snatch them from the gapiag grave !" 

He preached as if he felt all the solemn weight, all 
the eternal importance, of the message he delivered ; 
and yet his clear and rapid enunciation ; his energetic, 
but pleasing, action; his frequent transitions from 
one correlative topic to another, gave to his sermons 
all that variety, distinctness, and harmony, which are 
combined in a well-executed picture, — his beaming 
countenance, meanwhile, expressing the thrilling 
emotions which struggled within for utterance. These 
sentences may call to mind Cowper's description of 
" a preacher such as Paul :" 

" I would express him simple, grave, sincere ; 
In doctrine un corrupt ; in language plain ; 
And plain in manner ; decent, solemn, chaste, 
And natural in gesture ; much impress'd 
Himself, as conscious of his awful charge. 
And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds 
May feel it too : affectionate in look, 
And tender in address, as well becomes 
A messenger of grace to guilty men. 



805 

He 'stablishes the strong, restores the weak, 
Eeclaims the wanderer, binds the broken heart, 
And, armed himself in panoply complete. 
Of heavenly temper, furnishes with arms, 
Bright as his own, and trains, by every rule 
Of holy discipline, to glorious war, 
The sacramental host of God's elect." 

Mr. Tackaberry's constant reference to the atonement 
in his sermons and prayers has been ah^eady alluded 
to ; not that there is anything remarkable in the fact 
that a Christian minister makes Christ crucified the 
Alpha and Omega of his ministrations. What im- 
pressed the hearers was the manner in which Mr. T. 
descanted upon "Love's redeeming work." In heart 
he glorified in the Cross. When preaching, praying 
or administering the Lord's Supper, he often seemed 
as if Christ was evidently set forth crucified before 
him, and as if his sublime, his only aim was to 
persuade all present savingly to *' behold the Lamb 
of God which taketh away the sin of the world." 

K'otice has already been taken of Mr. T.'s remark- 
able conversational powers ; his cheerfulness in the 
domestic and social circle ; his zealous care in visiting 
the sick, especially those in fever, both in and out of 
hospital ; his filial enthusiasm ; and other distinguish- 
ing excellencies in his character. There were some 
peculiarities in his style of preaching and in his 
method of prayer, which were not equally acceptable 
to all who heard him. This was, however, very much 
a matter of taste, and of minor importance. These 
peculiarities it would have been ludicrous and 
dangerous to imitate ; but with him everything was 
perfectly natural, without the shadow of affectation. 



306 

And even those whose fastidious taste might have 
been offended with the occasional quaintness of his 
expressions ; or who complained of the lack of deep 
thought and of metaphysical ability in some of his 
sermons, would be among the first to acknowledge 
that, like Barnabas, he was a good man, full of the 
Holy Ghost and of faith, and that, through him, 
much people were added unto the lord. 



7JL 



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